


sanguis

by gaymess



Series: Blood, Soul & One [1]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 235,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23594236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaymess/pseuds/gaymess
Summary: her life ended in the span of a minute.her death began just after.
Relationships: Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Jo Haseul/Viian Wong | ViVi, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Series: Blood, Soul & One [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701034
Comments: 24
Kudos: 183





	1. one

"Hyunjin, you should come with."

She blinked, surprised at the sudden change of focus in the conversation, and quickly tried to assess the situation.

"I've never been to a college party before." Heejin explained with a wary grin on her face. Her big brown eyes were filled to the brim with hope and her nimble hands gripped onto a piece of pastel red card she could've mistaken as pink if it weren't for the provided contrast of the hot pink on her nails. "Plus, it says I can bring a plus one, and you're my best friend."

Looking around, Hyunjin saw that the rest of their friends had already evacuated the area while she was daydreaming, leaving only them and a couple of stragglers in their classroom. She sat beside the window with her chin resting on the heel of her hand, her habit of people watching coming back as she concentrated on observing the commuters passing below on their way home from work. Heejin was perched on the edge of the seat beside hers, elbow resting on the back of the chair to appear as nonchalant as she could while also nervously waiting for her input.

Hyunjin hummed, leaning back slowly in her chair and stretching her back from the past two lessons having been spent sitting down. "Shouldn't you be asking someone like Chaeyoung or Eunchae to go?"

Out of all of their friends, Hyunjin was probably the most distant one. It wasn't that she didn't want to be closer to the rest of her peers, it was that her tight schedule prevented her from attending whatever group outings one of them had planned and getting to know each and every one of them. Whenever they'd raucously announce a spontaneous visit to the karaoke place down the street, she'd have to stay in school extra hours to either join the athletics team in their usual training sessions or visit their in-school study centre to catch up on her work. Her parent's strict expectations were not something she could ignore like the rest of them, who seemed to be living every day as if it were their last. She had targets to reach and goals to meet.

It was the clash of interests between her and the rest of her 'friends' that stopped her from fully connecting to them. When she had been interested in sports and competition, they'd be talking about makeup and fashion. When she'd concentrate during lesson and quietly listen to the teacher, they'd be passing notes and commentating throughout class. When she'd prefer to talk about things that were actually interesting (like why the world was the way it was), they'd be talking about boys.

Needless to say, the only reason why they even gathered around Hyunjin's desk was because she shared it with Heejin.

Heejin was exuberant and optimistic. The teachers loved to love her - they'd call out her name when the class couldn't suply the correct answer and she'd give it to them (though whenever she couldn't, Hyunjin always told her the answer anyway), and she'd always be the first one to offer help if they ever needed it. Even if Heejin were to turn up ten minutes late, the teachers would easiy let her off with a light scolding and look the other way. Their peers loved her too - she constantly featured the school magazine due to her achievements in music and for just being good looking in general, and they'd constantly approach to have pleasant small talk with her. As for admirers: she had plenty. Hyunjin had visited Heejin's locker enough times to watch the way envelopes arraying in colors spilled out of its confines, similar to the way boys would profess their love through their scrawled words.

Naturally, Hyunjin would wonder why Heejin would be stubborn enough to keep calling her her 'best friend'. She wouldn't even have batted an eye at it but Heejin would refuse to refer to any of the other girls by that title.

"But you're my best friend." Heejin said, leaning towards her with a slight pout.

She was unable to keep her eyebrows from raising in disbelief (as always) and leaning back from the proxemity. Hyunjin wouldn't be surprised to find out that the only one of her 'friends' that actually liked her was Heejin, and she also wouldn't be surprised to find out Heejin just stuck by her side because her good-natured heart pitied her for some reason.

"That's right, you're my best friend." Heejin affirmed, gently nudging her in her seat. "I don't know why it's so hard for you to believe."

Hyunjin hummed, making show of putting a finger to her chin and tilting her head. "Maybe because I'm just another person while you're Jeon Heejin?"

Said girl chuckled lightly, though she seemed to be sporting a look of mild annoyance. "You're not just another person." She frowned, and Hyunjin watched as her brow furrowed and her eyes strayed away from her own before they quickly darted back up to meet again, a playful glint to the brown hue. "You're Kim Hyunjin. You're my person."

She would've been more flustered, had Heejin not mentioned this apparently reoccurring thought to her before. Yet still, she pretended to cringe at her words, writhing in her seat in uncomfort and wailing out "ew, that's so cheesy" just to get those giggles that drove the boys crazy, even if she had to take the punch to her shoulder along with them. Hyunjin had to admit that she was grateful for Heejin sticking by her side despite everything, though she would never truly find the words to actually express the gratitude to her friend. She just hoped that her eyes would be enough.

"And anyway, Chaeyoung already has an invitation and Eunchae is busy." Heejin explained, twisting the piece of card around in her hands absently.

Ah, so that was why, Hyunjin thought, trying not to show the sudden bitterness that had surged through her. Though she couldn't really blame Heejin, since she the only parties she had ever attended before were birthday parties from when they were still ten and she'd never even had a sip of alcohol in her eighteen years. "Nah, I can't be asked." She easily rejected, turning to start packing her things up. She should've been at the study centre half an hour ago.

Heejin gripped at her arm desperately, turning on the 'puppy-eyes' and cute pout. "Please, Hyun, it wouldn't be the same without you."

Lightly rolling her eyes, she continued to put her things away with the arm that wasn't in the other girl's grip. "Heejin, you don't even know what it's like to be at a party with me."

"But that's why~" Heejin whined, beginning to tug at her arm like a little kid throwing a tantrum. "You've spent all your time studying your ass off, I bet your mom will let you have one party!"

Hyunjin chuckled at the thought of her strict mother letting her attend a party - let alone a college party hosted by some people she'd never even met before. Her mother would probably smack her into oblivion before letting her waste her study-time at 'some unimportant event'. "I'd like to see you try to convince her." She said off-handedly, knowing just how much she intimidated her friend.

Though perhaps Heejin might've wanted her to go more than she thought, because she let out a preppy, "Okay" and began to pack her own things up herself.

Raising a wary eyebrow, Hyunjin watched as the girl eagerly and carelessly shoved all of her belongings into her school bag, her arm practically sweeping her side of the desk in order to be more efficient. Her eyes had that look in them - the one she would get whenever she accepted a challenge and was determined to complete it. It would make an appearance whenever one of their friends challenged her to a quiz, or whenever someone tried to beat her to the front of the lunch line. But there was no way she would actually try to convince her mom, right? They were both equally terrified of that woman.

"Well?" Heejin said, standing and looking down at her expectantly. "What are you waiting for?"

An incredulous laugh left her and Hyunjin just watched as Heejin impatiently glanced at her wrist. After recieving another, but firmer, look from her friend, she began to get the hint. "Oh, you're actually serious?"

"Hell yeah." Heejin exclaimed, finishing her task for her and shouldering the extra bag onto her shoulder. "Now let's go, we can catch the next bus to your house if we leave now."

"What..." Hyunjin was lost for words as she was tugged down their school hallways.

-

"Oh my god, I can't believe we're here!" Heejin squealed, hopping up and down excitedly in her place. "I can't believe you're here! Aren't you glad I convinced her?"

Hyunjin's mouth was uncomfortably parched. The building structure resembled that of an old school, three floors held up by thick, concrete columns and walls that were illuminated by a variety of white and purple lights, windows of the first floor missing the same thick glass that the windows of the higher floors had. The location of the party had been terribly questionable - she had had to sit in between Heejin and an equally uncomfortable Seoyeon for almost an hour as Chaeyoung's older brother drove them away from the city and into the suburbs. As soon as she had started seeing the grass getting taller by the side of the road and the population of trees growing, she began to doubt whether they'd been given the correct address or not. Honestly, she didn't know whether to be grateful that there were so many people (it meant that the chances of them getting kidnapped were smaller) or petrified that she'd actually have to socialise.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as Chaeyoung began to lead them up the gravel pathway, a mischevious grin on her lips. She didn't know what to expect. It was difficult to stop her hands from shaking when there were loud cries of older college students coming from within the building over the loud music and cheers as people danced and mingled.

What were they even doing here? They were just some high school kids.

Shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket, she couldn't help but stagger behind the other three girls who casually walked up to the entrance. The rancid smell of alcohol and sweat was making her feel uneasy, and she knew right then and there that she didn't want to be there, even if Heejin was sending her one of her most beautiful smiles over her shoulder. Not when some college boy just carelessly knocked her shoulder and didn't even spare her a glance when she almost lost balance.

"C'mon, Chae wants to get some drinks." Heejin called out over the defeaning music.

Hyunjin could feel every beat and every strike of the bass in her body from the violent vibrations of the speakers. They were placed strategically around the large room: one on each outer column that held up the second floor, all facing towards what looked like the makeshift dance floor; two or three were on the second floor, which she could see thanks to the balcony that overlooked the large dance space; two were placed either side of the DJ table, where there were two silhouettes managing the music.

The place was packed full of bodies, and they had to manouver themselves around groups of conversations and party games Hyunjin had only ever heard about but never actually seen in first person. The dancing was more focused towards the centre, and judging by the style of dance that was taking place, Hyunjin knew she wouldn't dare try stepping close to that area.

What on earth had possessed her mother to let her come here?

It wasn't too long until Seoyeon was shoving a red plastic cup into her hand, probably telling her to drink except she couldn't hear her over the noise.

"What is it?" Hyunjin tried shouting. She couldn't see into the cup because the lights in the place were so dark, the only occassional lights sweeping or flashing by.

However, Seoyeon had already turned away from her with her own cup in one hand and the other clasping Chaeyoung's as they appeared to yell excitedly before moving closer to the cluster of swaying bodies. Even if she had tried to keep her eyes on them, she knew she would've lost track of them in only a matter of seconds thanks to the moving bodies.

She must've looked confused, because Heejin leaned in close to her ear to shout, "It's just beer."

Hyunjin tried, really, to stop the shiver that ran down her spine as she felt her friend's hot breath on the shell of her ear. The reaction seemed to go unnoticed by Heejin, who easily leant back and rested a hand on her shoulder as she surveyed the area. She was just glad that at least Heejin was there and she hadn't been left to her own defences.

Prudently, she raised the cup to her nose and took a sniff, grimacing when the strong, bitter aroma hit her. She had never really understood why everyone was so amused by the idea of alcohol - it tasted terrible most of the time and it gave you a headache the morning after. Plus, she'd heard enough stories of girls losing their inhibitions and terrible things happening to them because of it. She didn't want to add her name to the list.

Heejin began to drag her further into the building, smiling kindly at those who gave them curious looks and easily moving through the throng of people. Her hand was small in Hyunjin's, as it had always been, but it was warm and slightly clammy due to the humid atmosphere of the party. It calmed her.

They stopped at a far corner where the host hadn't placed a speaker, meaning it was easier to hear when trying to have conversation.

"So, what do you think?" Heejin beamed up at her, bringing her own cup to her lips and sipping carefully. Hyunjin hadn't ever seen her friend look so alive: there was this certain brightness to her eyes (even though she couldn't see them very clearly in the dark) and her posture looked relaxed, as if she was where she belonged.

"I-" Hyunjin's voice caught in her throat. "It's okay, the music is a little loud."

She was thankful she could still hear Heejin laugh, the corners of her own mouth twisting up in content when she heard the sweet melody. "That's the whole point, dumbass," Heejin said, tightening her hold on her hand, "I really want you to enjoy this."

Not knowing what to say to that, Hyunjin just nodded stiffly and averted her eyes.

It wasn't long until she caught sight of Heejin's longing glances at the dance floor, having felt the smaller girl moving to the sound of the music faintly beside her. She had never been one who enjoyed dance despite having tried it out in the past (her parents had forced her into every extra-curricular activity possible, trying to get her to acquire more hobbies and skills), and it didn't really bring particularly good memories to mind. But Heejin looked like she really wanted to go to them and she had spotted Chaeyoung and Seoyeon somewhere in the crowd, anyway.

"Heejin," Hyunjin tugged on her hand, waiting until she had her attention, "you can go, I can see Chae and Seo."

There was no way to miss the way the girl's eyes brightened considerably at the suggestion, and Hyunjin couldn't help but feel the bitterness grow inside of her once more. But Heejin quickly schooled her expression into one of concern. "What? No. What about you?"

Shaking her head, Hyunjin let go of her hand. "I'll just stay here. You know how I feel about dancing." She tried a reassuring smile and saw the way Heejin hesitantly glanced towards the dance floor.

"Hyun, I'm not leaving you alone." Heejin huffed, shifting in her place and trying to take her hand back.

Hyunjin shook her head again and forced a laugh. "Just go!" She softly nudged her friend in the opposite direction of where she really wanted her to be. "I'll stay here and I won't move, I swear."

She met the unconvinced stare with her own confident one, trying to exude affirmation and assurance. Deep down, she knew that she really didn't want Heejin to leave her alone due to the fear of what could happen to her without someone familiar around. But she didn't want to be that annoying burden who held everyone back with her personal, selfish issues, and anyone would be an idiot not to notice the yearning in the girl's eyes when she mentioned the prospect of dancing. She already felt bad that she'd been invited out of pity, she should probably let Heejin enjoy herself with her friends.

Despite her reluctance, Heejin still left (not after making her promise to stay put) and disappeared into the crowd. Immediately afterwards, she felt the anxiety kicking in.

Hyunjin moved towards the wall, trying to blend herself in and disappear from sight as much as she could, her all black outfit helping her camouflage into the shadows. She could see several college boys rowdily making their way over to where they were playing a game not too far off from herself, and she involuntarily flinched and edged away from them as subtly as she could. It was difficult not to feel like the social outcast when everyone seemed to have a group or at least a partner to talk to, especially when she was too shy to actually make conversation with the older students who appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The cup in her hand grew heavier by the second, and she glanced at it again as she kept standing in the corner of the room in her lonesome. She wasn't sure if it was the curiosity or the fact that she hadn't seen Heejin, Chaeyoung or Seoyeon in more than half an hour, but she raised the cup to her lips and tilted her head back.

She tried not to spit it back out when the liquid touched her tongue, making it go dry like it did whenever she tasted something stale and bitter, and reluctantly swallowed it. It left an unpleasant taste in her mouth, and she wanted to go get herself some water to wash it out but she had promised she'd stay put. In all honesty, the beer had tasted better the moment it was in her mouth, so she unwillingly took another gulp.

"Hey."

Now, Hyunjin wasn't dumb. As soon as she saw the sloppy smile on the older boy's face and his hand lazily holding onto his own red cup as he approached her, alarms began to go off in her head. He was taller than her by a hand, but underneath his thin bomber jacket and loose shirt she could tell that he was the scrawny type who didn't have a lot of muscle on their thin limbs. She had already begun formulating an escape plan, aware of the group of students who were watching the interaction with amused grins on their faces.

"Is that a mirror in your pocket?" His words slurred together and Hyunjin could tell he was pretty drunk, judging by the way he used the wall as support to keep himself upright.

"What?" Hyunjin was confused. What kind of question was that?

"Is that a mirror. In. Your. Pocket?" He repeats, slowing his words down and talking down to her as if she were the stupid one. Hyunjin scrunched her nose when his breath hit her face, and she slightly turned her head away from him in disgust. Delivering his next words, he slid closer and invaded her personal space, a sleazy smirk on his red face. "Because I can see me in your pants."

She clenched her jaw, frustratedly, her grip on the red cup tightening significantly. She had never thought that she'd find herself in this kind of situation, if she was honest, and was just beginning to get desperate for Heejin to miraculously return from dancing and save her from whatever this was. Her gut twisted unpleasantly, the blood draining from her face as she saw the drunk boy slam his hand against the wall far too close to her head, as if he were trying to reenact one of those scenes from the dramas. Except he wasn't that handsome and Hyunjin didn't find this attractive. At all.

"What's your name, babe?" He scorned, his chapped lip curling up in an ugly expression.

Hyunjin bit her tongue, restraining herself from uppercutting his small jaw and leaving the venue. She didn't want to be here. She wasn't having fun. Heejin had left her and probably forgotten about her by now.

"I asked you something, girlie." His breath fanned across her face, the unpleasant warmth hitting her face and making her recoil.

Suddenly his attention moved away from her and he was craning his head over his shoulder to look at whoever had placed their hand on it. Hyunjin blinked and the next thing she knew, the boy was writhing on the floor in pain at her feet, his red cup spilling unceremoniously on the hard concrete as his hands clutched at his face. She didn't understand what was happening, the beer apparently having taken an affect to her ability to process information.

A hand was stretched out to her and Hyunjin warily eyed the shadowed figure waiting patiently for her to take it. All she could make out was long, beautiful blonde hair framing a probably equally beautiful face and intense, dark eyes piercing into her.

Dubiously, she placed her own hand in the mysterious girl's grip and allowed her to lead her away from where the group of the boy's friends were beginning to approach him. The blonde's hand was cold in her own, and she found a strange comfort to it as the heat and humidity was sticking nastily to her skin, causing small beads of sweat to form on her brow. Whatever anxiety she was feeling before left her, and for the first time that night she felt all the tension leave her body as she stared at the back of her saviour. The blue top she was wearing exposed her shoulders, allowing Hyunjin to see the way the muscles in her back moved with every step they took. It was captivating.

The blonde glanced back at her when they reached the bottom of the stairs, and at that moment the lights swept by and illuminated her facial features.

Had she not been already speechless, Hyunjin would have been stunned into silence by the delicate beauty of the girl's small face. Her parted lips were painted a soft pink, the light bouncing off of the plump lower lip and making her stare intently at them. She was looking at her with a curiously blank expression, and Hyunjin's attention averted to the dark hues watching her every move. The girl's eyes were beautiful, her long eyelashes fluttering with every blink and the shape of them making her think that the girl was innocent (she didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust her).

It kind of reminded her of Heejin's own eyes, which were always round and large and full of life and love. It made Hyunjin's chest clench painfully.

Perhaps it was just the lighting, but she could've sworn the blonde girl's eyes suddenly flash.

As she kept following the blonde girl obediently, she realised she was being lead away from where the party was concentrated and they were climbing the stairs, ignoring the second floor completely. For some reason, she never thought of questioning why they were going to the third floor. Her mind was flooded with thoughts of the girl's enthralling beauty and just how grateful she was to her for saving her from such an awkward situation.

"You're good." The girl's soft, mellow voice slid in nicely with the silence, and Hyunjin calmly turned her head to look at her as they came to a stop in the empty room.

There was no furniture, though honestly she wouldn't have been able to tell since there were also no lights on that floor. The temperature change sent chills down her spine as the cool draft from the open windows hit her sweat-lathered skin. It smelt like dust and moisture, like no one had visited this part of the building yet.

"Aren't you, sweetheart?"

Hyunjin steadily met the girl's eyes, which were much closer than the last time she had managed to register anything. Subconsciously, she found herself nodding in agreement, for some reason yearning for approval.

Chuckling, the girl led her towards one of the open windows that was better illuminated by the lights from the ground floor. Her grip on her hand was firm anough for Hyunjin to feel each and every one of the fingers that threaded hers, though not in an uncomfortable manner where she wasn't able to release. Not that she wanted to, strangely. Not when this pretty girl was looking at her like she was the only person that mattered at this party, eyes trained on her intently in the way that she wished Heejin's would.

The grip on her hand tightened promptly, and her attention was back on the blonde girl who's expression had darkened, eyes flashing again. Hyunjin was starting to become wary.

"I could tell you didn't want to be there." She said, her voice catching her easily and she was once again captivated by the movement of the girl's lips. The hand that wasn't holding hers caringly pushed back some dark hair which had fallen across her face, and Hyunjin dazedly leant into the touch. "But you wan't to be here, don't you?"

Hyunjin nodded.

A satisfied hum left the blonde as she stepped closer to Hyunjin, her strange but addictive scent wrapping around her. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you..." The same hand which had moved the strand of hair away smoothly glided to position itself on the back of her neck, holding her in place.

For some reason, all Hyunjin could see was the girl's face, leaning in closer to her by the second. Her long blonde hair was brightened by the white and purple lights, making her look like an angel as it cascaded over her shoulders in calculated waves. Her half-lidded eyes were dark - very dark, she noticed - and were looking at her with so much emotion and desire that she hadn't known she had been craving all of this time. Her chin tilted down as she approached her face, breath brushing over the exposed skin on Hyunjin's neck, the corners of her lips tugging up as if she were having fun.

That's good, Hyunjin thought as she unconsciously tilted her head back, we're having fun... just like Heejin promised...

Realisation came too late, however. There was a sharp sensation at her neck and she felt like the life was being drained out of her, energy dissipating.

She panicked, shouting out at the pain and thrashing violently against the blonde girl, who stubbornly held onto her with a painful grip. It may have been the adrenaline or the alcohol, but when she managed to tear herself away from her, where her iris would be were bright blue hues glaring into her.

And then she was falling, and the blonde reached out to her with alarm painting her expression and crimson on her lips.

The last thing on her mind was Heejin.

Everything went dark.


	2. two

Crimson was seeping into her vision, tainting her periphery with the sick color as she profusely blinked her heavy eyelids. Her eyeballs hurt, the bothersome sensation reminding her of when she'd put in her contact lenses and the edges would stab against her if she hadn't applied them correctly. She was tempted to try and claw at her eyes but resisted from doing so, her attention focused on getting away from the eerie building.

Her eardrums hurt. The incessant soundwaves emitting from the venue were pushing her farther and farther away, stumbling down dewy grass and towards the line of trees. Her feet tripped and she stumbled foward clumsily, quickly putting a hand down on the soft grass to keep her up but not giving up her escape. It was hard to keep her balance when her head was spinning and her whole body felt like it had been hit by a truck a couple of times over. Because life hated her that way.

She caught a glimpse of blonde in the corner of her eye and picked up her pace. She couldn't be here. She had to get away.

Twigs snapped underfoot and branches struck her face as she ran as best as she could. Her jacket was wet from the dew on the grass and was sliding off her shoulders as trees greedily caught on it and tried ripping it off of her weak frame. 

Paranoia consumed her as she violently wrenched herself away from their touch and sprinted through the trees, the only thing on her mind was getting home. She had never thought that she'd want to go home - especially not after going to a party and coming back with a bloody neck and bloody hands and hysteria uprooted in her eyes. But right now, she just wanted to go home and run into her mother's arms and be comforted that it would all be okay like she would when she was still a child. She just wanted to lay in her comfortable bed amongst the band of pillows after taking a hot shower and washing off all the grime and filth sticking to her body. She didn't want to remember what happened tonight and she didn't want to see that blonde girl or anyone for a couple of days.

Hyunjin wanted to go home.

Breaths ragged as they escaped her dry throat, she reached the outskirts of the city. The soles of her feet stung with every heavy step, but she knew that if she stopped running then that thing would catch up to her and god knew what would happen to her if she let that happen. It was relieving to finally find herself weaving through dark alleyways, poorly lit by neon lights from cheap bars and convenience stores.

However, a cacophony of sound swarmed her as she got closer to the more familiar part of the district. There were people talking into her ear; their voices sounded as if they were submerged under water as they muttered incoherent conversations. It was overwhelming. She was only able to catch a couple of words but she wasn't able to string them together into a comprehendable sentence. It was like she was listening to snippets of different conversations, coming from the apartment blocks rising up around her and leaning over her, swallowing her up.

She was pushed back by a person, who carelessly shoulder checked her.

Eyes wide, she observed as the man glared at her and told her to be careful. But all that could fill her senses was this pain in her chest and stomach, and this strange metallic but inviting scent that made her stumble a little closer to him with hunger in her weak expression. She felt an odd sense of pride rush through her as she watched the man's face crumble into fear and take an unsteady step back away from her, even as she pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth and clenched her fists to stop herself from doing something reckless. Sniffing, she noticed that all of the voices had faded away and were replaced by the quick beat of blood flowing. Except it wasn't her own.

The man quickly turned and began to escape down the street, alarm in his movement.

Hyunjin frowned to herself, confused at her own behaviour.

What was wrong with her? Why could she smell everything ten times better, and why was every sound amplified and why was her chest clenching painfully?

Groaning, she continued making her way down the street, trying to go to the nearest bus stop. She was tired, her feet dragging along the pavement as her still crimson vision darkened. She leaned against the glass of the bus stop, sliding down slightly but pushing herself up straight after so she didn't fall to the dirty concrete.

Her eyes closed involuntarily and she forced them open to check for the bus times. But what she saw instead would have made her blood run cold.

She almost thought it was someone else, that maybe the blonde girl had found her and was here to finish it all, but the figure in the reflection was copying her sluggish movements exactly and it was wearing the same thing she was. She held her breath, gulping the swab-like texture in her mouth.

Her eyes were red.

She blinked, hard. This wasn't possible. She was probably still drunk.

They were a bright crimson, resembling the liquid that had been smeared on that blonde girl's mouth.

She rubbed at them. This was all a dream. A concoction of too many gothic novels and cheesy vampire romance movies.

Where the usually brown iris were, now replaced a bloody hue that expressed a terrifying hunger that she had never seen in herself before.

No. No, that wasn't possible, Hyunjin's clasped fists smacked at her head, vampires were fiction. This is just a dream.

A group of rowdy friends coming back from a business party walked past at that moment, and she caught a whiff of that same scent she had smelt earlier. Her chest clenched painfully and she found her mouth dropping open automatically, a yearning hiss leaving her. She could hear their blood pulsating in her ears, and a wicked part of her wanted nothing more than to rip one of them away from their pack and divulge in a meal. But as soon as that thought came into her mind she tightened her grip on her hair and tugged at it, focusing on that pain instead.

"Should we do something?"

"No, she's probably just wasted."

"Let's go."

Hyunjin panted when they left, horrified at her own reaction. There was something wrong with her. She couldn't be here.

Just as she began to disappear into the darkness of an alleyway, which hopefully led away from the city, a familiar voice stopped her in her trail.

"Hyunjin!"

Oh, god no. Hyunjin picked up her pace and turned the next corner, hoping that she wouldn't be discovered. What were the odds?

"Hyunjin? I know it's you." Heejin's worried voice filled her sensitive ears, her footsteps echoing down the alleyway towards where she hid pressed up against the brick wall. Hyunjin could feel that same dreadful feeling arising again, only this time it was worse. The pain in her chest was worse and the hunger was tenfold more powerful.

A growl left her clenched jaw, making her move away from where she knew Heejin was still approaching. This was such a stupid dream. What kind of masochist was she that her brain put her in this fucked up scenario?

"Hyunjin! Oh my god, can you stop?" Heejin was close. She could smell her better now. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"L-leave..." Hyunjin groaned, accidentally bumping into a dumpster she didn't see through the crimson vision and losing her balance yet luckily regaining her footing.

"What the fuck?" Heejin hissed, her voice full of venom and anger. Hyunjin could practically feel the exasperation and irritation oozing off of the girl, the same way she could smell the enticing, sweet scent that essentially radiated off of her. There were frustrated tears in Hyunjin's eyes as she tried to supress the sickening emotions. "What the fuck, Hyunjin! Do you know how worried I was? And now you're telling me to leave-"

Another wave struck her and she paused, tempted to turn around and let the monster take control of her. She inhaled deeply, trying to regain her control but only getting more of Heejin's scent instead.

"Look, if you're mad I wasn't with you, you can just say." She needs to go. "We can talk about it." She can't be here. "But don't freaking tell me to leave you alone on some streets you don't even know." I can't be here. "Hyunjin, I'm sorry, okay?"

As soon as Hyunjin felt that soft, familiar touch on her skin, something took over her.

Her vision was clouded entirely by the crimson tint, but through it she could see that she had pressed her small friend against the brick wall and was restricting her movement by gripping the base of her neck, like a predator's claws keeping its prey still. Heejin's eyebrows had raised, and her eyes held pure surprise and confusion as they scanned her face. Hyunjin could feel her friend's quickening pulse underneath the pads of her fingers, which were strategically digging into where her artery was. It made her mouth dry with nauseating desire. It made her head spin with want. It made her want to sink her teeth into the delicate skin and taste the blood-

"Heejin, you need to go." Hyunjin cried when she snapped out of the trance, her voice desperate and begging her friend to just leave. For her own safety.

Instead, Heejin's trembling hand reached up to hold onto the exposed wrist of the hand which held her against the wall, her slender fingers curling around in a soothing manner. Hyunjin felt her swallow against her hand, nerves displayed on her petrified face. "Talk to me." Her voice was sweet and gentle, with the usual patience she always addressed her with. It was comforting. Familiar.

LIke when Hyunjin was competing in the track event for the school and had lost her position of first place just at the end of the race to end up second, and had bitterly accepted the silver medal around her neck only to disappear from the event. Heejin easily found her not long after, a bouquet of flowers in her hands and a careful but sympathetic expression on her face. Like when Hyunjin had failed a test because she'd forgotten to study for it the night before and had abruptly left the conversation with tears prickling at her eyes, but Heejin had followed without hesitation and clasped at her hand comofrtingly. Like when Hyunjin's father had yelled at her for not meeting his expectations and she'd stayed at home for two days straight pretending to be sick and Heejin had turned up at her apartment with a bag of food and medicine and homework.

Every single time with those same words on her lips: 'talk to me'.

Tears began to spill out of Hyunjin's eyes, and she loosened her grip on Heejin. How could she even beging to explain the lack of sensation in her body? The loathsome thoughts plaguing her mind? How she didn't know what was wrong either?

Another wave of hunger struck her and moments later she had roughly pressed herself against Heejin's warm body, her mouth mere inches away from what the thing inside of her was craving. All she could smell was the sweet, inviting aroma. All she could hear was Heejin's heavy breathing tickling her ear and pulse pounding loudly in her ears. All she could feel was the erratic movement of the smaller girl's chest and her tightened muscles underneath her touch. All she could think about was giving in to the voice in her head. She was sure Heejin would taste as beautiful as she was.

She felt herself run her tongue flat along Heejin's artery. The girl flinched violently against her and let out a slightly frightened but surprised gasp, her grip on her wrist tightening.

Hyunjin's head spun at the reaction, leaning back slightly to observe Heejin. The girl, rather than looked scared as she had expected, was bowing her head in shame as a blush spread on her cheeks. It made a sick pride bloom in her chest and the hunger intensify.

Entranced, Hyunjin slid up her hand on the girl's neck and splayed her fingers over her small jaw, effectively titling her head back so she'd have more access. Her mouth fell open automatically at the exposed skin on her willing prey, leaning in and wrapping her mouth around it. Heejin's breath hitched again, and her other hand hastily moved to grip her jacket. The pain in her chest was beginning to numb as her mind clouded with thoughts of Heejin - of how addictive her huffed little breaths were or how her legs trembled like a weak animal or just how delicious she smelt. She grazed her teeth along the fragile skin, wanting to pierce into it and drink the life pumping through.

At that thought, Hyunjin tore herself away from Heejin, who looked terribly flustered and agitated and mildly horrified.

She couldn't believe she had just done that... to her own friend.

"Hyun-" Heejin's voice was raspy and quiet and incredibly attractive in that moment.

"I-I have to go." Hyunjin's own shook, scared of herself and what she had almost done.

Hyunjin forced herself to run away from where she really wanted to be, tears streaming down her face in disgust and self-hatred.

-

As soon as the edges of the sun had begun to peak over the horizon to paint the skies a warm color, her vision had dimmed dramatically. Fortunately, her feet were back to treading on the soft mud and she was surrounded by sparse trees and shrubs, which also meant that there was likely not to be any other living thing in sight for a while.

Hyunjin was exhausted. The rising of the sun meant that the darkness was over, and that light was here and she could be safe from the monsters. So she let her weight drop to the floor, carelessly landing in the midst of moist grass leaves and bumping her head. Even if she tried opening her eyes as wide as she could, she was practically blind. She didn’t know whether this was a better alternative to seeing through that same crimson filter, but she was too tired to even care at this point. What was the point when she could just worry about it later? What was the point when this was all just a dream?

She felt dead. Like she had no energy in her body for her to move a limb or no motivation to muster up a coherent thought which would suffice for an explanation for all of this madness. The feeling was difficult to describe or even compare to something. It wasn’t like anything she had ever felt before, perhaps saying that her body felt hollow was the closest thing akin to the sensation.

After that night, she just wanted to sleep forever.

There were tears flowing out of her eyes, smearing down the surface of her face as she lay there, death on her conscience. Heejin probably hated her after that. Hyunjin felt her chest contract tightly, though this time not from hunger but from something much worse.

Her only true friend, the only person who she could actually stand, the only one who actually cared for her...

Hyunjin felt the sob rise from her stomach and rip its way out of her through her throat and out of her mouth. Her parents would be so mad at her for not being back at a decent time and would probably take everything she loved away from her. Every hobby and every activity that she remotely enjoyed... gone. And the opportunity to ask for a school transfer probably gone too, which meant that she'd have to face Heejin again after that and have to look at the hatred in her eyes.

She wouldn’t blame Heejin for telling the rest of her friends about what she’d done. It’d been horrible and inhumane and disgusting. 

But the worst part of it all was that some repulsive part of her had actually enjoyed it.

Hyunjin just wanted to die.

“If that is something you truly wish for, I could grant it.”

Hyunjin jolted fiercely on her place in the grass, going to push herself up but feeling her head swirl dizzily when she tried. It was that same, soothing voice enunciating the words carefully and slowly, lips wrapping around every syllable and air being pushed out softly. The one which has had entranced her and seduced her into following her to danger. She made an attempt at moving away from where she thought the voice came from, but instead bumped into what she knew were a pair of legs. “Stay away from me.” Her voice trembled and shook unsteadily, bile rising up from the back of her throat as the pain in her neck became more prominent. If she was honest, she was surprised that no more blood was pouring out of the wound.

There was a heavy sigh and some light footsteps moving around her. “I can’t do that.”

A hint of solemnity and frustration in the voice sent a shiver up her spine and she immediately moved to make a run for it. It wasn’t long until she felt herself tripping over her own two feet and skidding on the mud, feeling some of it splatter across her face. She felt pitiful as she dragged herself across the wet grass, still trying to escape the impending doom.

"Stop, I'm not going to hurt you."

Scoffing, Hyunjin managed to clench her hands into tight fists, prepared to fight for whatever was left of her life. "You've already done that."

The girl hummed pensively, nearing her with light footsteps. "I'm only here to help." Her voice, although sounding alluring at first listen, was monotone and blunt. It was as if she were lacking emotions, or any sense of feeling at all. "And if you wish to die, then I will help."

Horror flooded through her, and Hyunjin felt her whole body tense up rigidly. The silence that ensued afterward was palpable and was suffocating Hyunjin. She wished that she had her vision now so she could see what the other girl was doing in case she needed to protect herself again. This was the same girl that had savagely ripped into her neck and pushed her out of the window.

"I didn't push you, you fell." The girl deadpanned softly. "I never wanted that to happen. That wasn't how it was supposed to go."

Hyunjin remained speechless.

"It's unfortunate."

Mustering up the courage, with a shaky voice she asked, "What is?"

Hyunjin could hear the slight upturn to the lips, the wistful undertone to the words. "Your death. What you have become."

Death.

Death...

Her death...

"N-no..." Hyunjin whimpered weakly, all energy dissipating from her body and leaving her limp and defenseless on the dewy grass. The more she tried to deny the words, the memory of falling from the third floor and smacking the gravel floor at the bottom became more and more prominent. Although hazy, she could recall the life being knocked out of her body along with her breath, her eyes naturally rolling to the back of her head and obscuring her vision.

The bile rose in the back of her throat at the vivid scene in her head. She remembered feeling the pain in her neck seeping through her body and spreading through her veins at a creepingly slow and painful pace. The scratches on her arms formed by her soulless body writhing on the gravel as the infection infiltrated her circulation and destroyed her from the inside.

"I can't be-" Hyunjin remembered her encounter with Heejin. She remembered the thoughts and feelings as she had dug her nails into the girl's neck, ready to rip her apart.

In that moment she realised something:

She wouldn't ever be safe from the monsters, because she was one.

"So," The girl's voice was nearer now, "do you still wish to die?"


	3. three

Hyunjin shot up.

A thin line of sweat coated the edge of her hairline and stuck her thin shirt to her back, as if she had just woken up from a fever-induced sleep with the remnants of a slight headache gripping her skull. Her nostrils felt strangely sensitive, almost painful as she greedily inhaled some much needed air into her panting body, stinging at every inhale and soothing at every exhale. Even though her eyes were bleary and pricked a little at the edges, her attention was more focused on her mouth and the stale, bitter aftertaste clinging to the back of her throat and tongue. When she experimentally clenched her jaw, she felt a stinging pain shoot through her gums and immediately she let her mouth hang open to relieve the pressure.

Panicked, she felt around her, hands probing at her familiar white bed sheets and grasping at the loose yellow shirt hanging off her frame. She sat amongst the army of unnecessary pillows and plushies, all desperately clinging on to whatever space was left on her bed. Through the messily pulled curtains fell what she knew was early morning light, scattering across the neat desk she used to study beside her closed bedroom door. On the floor were reminders of her rush to choose the correct outfit for a party she didn't want to attend.

Her breath halted.

Recollection of every memory she imprinted into her mind that night was the only thing stopping her from believing that nothing had happened at all and was just a quixotic creation of the brain. Unfortunately, she still vividly remembered the haunting glare in the blonde woman's eyes that had managed to lock her in place, and the uncomfortable sensation sourcing from the place on her neck below her jaw, and the heart-clenching fall from the third floor of a building and her body fracturing at the bottom.

Absently, she pushed herself off of her bed, noting the loose grey sweatpants she only wore when her body felt extra sore after a particular taxing practice. If her theory that the night had truly happened, then how had she made it back home? The last thing she remembered was the promising glint in the blonde's expression as she vowed to "bring her death".

Further down the apartment, she could hear her mother's voice rising to be heard above the sizzling of the pan. That was strange, normally her mother had to go to work and was gone before she was awake.

As cautiously as possible, Hyunjin crept down the hallway. Her senses were heightened, she noticed, her periphery sharpened enough so she was able to see her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. She heard another voice answering back to her mother and instantly froze.

What. The. Fuck.

Hyunjin subconsciously lowered her centre of gravity and clenched her fists, ultimately prepared for a fight. There was no way that monster had somehow managed to weasel into her home - to actually have the audacity to be in one of the only places where she felt safe. It made her feel sick to her stomach, twisting her gut in that familiar manner from when she had been stumbling through tall city walls and dewy fields.

Just as she rounded the corner, she felt herself come to a standstill.

Staring straight at her were those same pair of eyes that haunted her mind.

A chill ran its cold fingers down her spine and the sweat she had woken up with sent a bead down her profile. It was like her breath was being squeezed out of her lungs as a pressure quickly causing a feeling of implosion within her chest replaced it and an uncomfortable sensation akin to something drowning her from the inside made her movements paralyze under the cool gaze.

The blonde's hair tumbled down her shoulders in beautiful waves, similar to how it had been styled when she first met her. Now, under the fresh summer sunlight flooding their kitchen, she could make out the faux innocence in the curve of her eyelids and the light blush applied with make-up. Her beauty was chilling - Hyunjin couldn't tear her eyes away from the view. There was something there, hidden behind some sort of expression that was hidden behind an unreadable mask. It was impossible read any emotions that may have been betrayed with a flicker of the eyes or a particularly drawn breath.

Just then, the corners of the monsters lips, stained neatly with a bright red, tugged up.

The blonde smirked.

Hyunjin's eyes widened - in fear or shock, she didn't know.

"Hyunjin, what are you doing?" Her mother's unusually lively voice shattered the frigid tension in the air. "Get dressed into your uniform, Jinsoul is going to take you to school."

Her breath hitched in her throat.

"Jinsoul?" She couldn't help the subtle bite when she allowed her mouth to form around the name. It was bitter on her lips.

At the tone of her voice, her mother swivelled from her place at the kitchen counter, wooden spatula still in her hand and a scathing expression on her face. "That is not how I taught you to speak to others." Her voice was still as reprimanding as usual, and for the strangest of reasons it brought her some comfort that one aspect of her life hadn't changed. She turned to look at the blonde, who had schooled her expression back to one of neutrality, and apologised in a gentler tone. "Now, Jinsoul, your unnie-" Another warning look, "-is doing you the kind favour of dropping you off."

Hyunjin hesitantly glanced at said girl. There was a smile on her face that could've easily been dismissed as kind, but after the sight of her own blood on those lips had been engraved into her consciousness, there was no way she was ever going to see it as something other than a hint for the plans of her demise.

"You have ten minutes, Hyunjin." Her mother called, that familiar annoying lilt at the end that said there'd be consequences if she didn't do as told snapping her out of her trance.

Reluctantly, she moved back to her room.

None of this was making sense.

How was it already a school day when the party had been on a Saturday night? Unless she had somehow managed to miraculously time travel or sleep all the way through the weekend (highly unlikely when her parents would prefer her to be studying), there was no way it was already Monday. Her phone lay face down on her desk, her charger limply attached on to it.

The screen came to life and the date greeted her.

Wednesday.

Hyunjin felt a nausea sweep over her and she gulped the lump in her throat. What the fuck...

"Seven minutes!"

Distractedly, Hyunjin began to tug off her yellow shirt in front of the slightly stained mirror that hung on the outside of her wardrobe. There, she began to take notice of how much weight she had managed to lose over the time she had been unconscious and presumably not eaten. Her paled skin (which she assumed came hand in hand with the sickness she was feeling) clung to her rib cage that was strangely battered with faint bruises and scratches. Confusion clouded her mind as she gently grazed her fingers over the purplish skin, frowning softly as she tried recollecting any possible memories of what had happened to her.

Her eyes rose up her own body, tilting her head back when they arrived at her neck. There, where that same pressure had been bothering for attention, lay a scarring mark that was a faint reddish tint from the distance she was standing. She leaned forward to examine it better, noting the peculiar way small blue capillaries spread from that source and faded into her arteries.

As she scrunched her nose scepticism, her upper lip tugged up and revealed her teeth. Her canines had sharpened. They jutted out more than the rest of her teeth that lay in a neat row, lightly pricking her lip when she tested biting at something.

Hissing in pain, her hand instantly jolted up to soothe at her lower lip. When she pulled her fingers away, her blood so dark that it was almost black.

That definitely wasn't right...

Her phone buzzing to life on her desk disrupted her and she curiously glanced at the screen once more, noting how she only had a couple of more minutes to spare before she had to be in school.

She rushed to put on her uniform, her button-up shirt messily done up and socks only three quarters tugged up her legs as she shoved as many of her books as possible into her bag. Despite having just woken up from a supposed three day comatose (she was beginning to question the reliability of her mother and this Jinsoul woman), she knew that there would be clear repercussions if she was late to school, and the last thing she wanted after missing out on two days of school in her last year was to be in detention.

Plus, perhaps she could manage to get some answers out of the blonde. If she had wanted her dead, then she would've most likely done something about it by now.

Slinging her blazer over her shoulder, she soundlessly made her way towards the kitchen.

"...has been working hard her whole life. We're very proud to have her as our daughter."

Hyunjin's heart clenched in her chest when she heard her mother's voice. Never had she been so blatantly validated by her parents - it had always been passing comments of approval when they'd recieve her report card or a proud smile for a couple of seconds before new plans to improve were being made. She bit her tongue between her teeth as tears welled in her eyes.

"I bet you are. She seems like a very intelligent girl and we'd love to have her in our program. I'm sure she'd excel."

Wait, what? Hyunjin had never heard about any program and she had never even heard, seen or met Jinsoul before the night where she had practically mauled her neck and thrown her out of the window. Who was 'we' and why was her mother even believing any of the words spewing from the stranger's mouth? Last she knew, her parents had been the ones to teach her not to be to trusting in people too easily.

"I'm glad you've seen her potential, I'm sure she'd be thrilled to be a part of your work. And to think you are so generous to even pay her for her contribution... Really, is there more that we can do for you?"

She pressed herself up against the wall, her hand clenched tightly around her bag to prevent herself from recklessly interrupting the conversation and not getting any useful information.

"No, really Mrs Kim. It's already enough that you're entrusting your daughter into our care so willingly. It's clear how much you love her."

'Entrusting into our care'?

Hyunjin's mind wildly raced through the possibilities of what that could mean. There was no way her parents were handing her away to some random girl so easily. She was their daughter, for god's sake! How was her mother so gullible?

"I'm sure she'd like to have some independence... we've been too harsh on her lately and she's already eighteen. Moving out will be hard but..."

Her eyes widened. 'Moving out'?

Outraged, Hyunjin stepped out from her temporary hiding spot, prepared to expose whatever motives the blonde truly had and beg her mother not to trust whatever scam the monster was trying to pull. She didn't want to be ripped away from her home and be taken in by some psycho stranger who had tried eating her just mere days ago. Who in their right mind would let their child go into the arms of someone like that? Definitely not her parents, she knew that for sure.

However, Jinsoul had seemed to be expecting her and had been watching her the second she made her move. There was a peaceful smile on her face, though her eyes held some sort of authority that bore into her. "Hyunjin," Said girl shivered in slight terror when the measured, soft voice pronounced her name, "I hope you don't mind me taking you to school."

Hyunjin blinked. She could feel her mother's watchful eyes observing her next actions very carefully, making sure she didn't step out of line in the slightest as she had done earlier. Refraining from glaring at the blonde, who seemed to be taking more pleasure in the situation than would've been deemed considerable, Hyunjin forced a polite smile and looked right back at the monster defiantly. "Of course not, Jinsoul-unnie-" she couldn't help the sharpness to her voice, "-thank you for going out of your way and doing me this favor."

She didn't have time to feel smug at her retort before something changed in Jinsoul's expression. Her eyes, which had remained impartial all this time, flashed a menacing blue shade. Just like they had at the party.

Grudgingly, Hyunjin naturally cowered back and surrendered dominance.

Her mother seemed satisfied with her answer and began to usher them out of the door, pushing the lunchbox that was still warm into her hands. "You don't have to attend cram school today, after your track practice Jinsoul will pick you up and she'll help you out with your project."

There was nothing much she could do to protest. Hyunjin had thought about it, stopping this whole act and shouting out the truth. But the more she thought about it the more she realised how futile it all was. Vampires and monsters and blood-sucking demons? What would she even say to explain what had happened? She couldn't really say that Jinsoul was secretly a pervert who liked to kidnap high school girls for fun because just listening to their exchange Hyunjin knew that the blonde had her mother wrapped around her little finger. And with the warning look Jinsoul was sending with her abruptly blue eyes, she didn't think that breaking out into a fight would be the best decision.

So unwillingly, she accepted the lunchbox and stepped out of her apartment door, reluctantly following after Jinsoul.

-

"What the fuck is going on?" Hyunjin glowered when Jinsoul led her to a sleek, black car that was parked in the garage of the apartment complex.

It was fitting. The expensive model matched well with the classy black blazer that held onto her thin frame, the tight jeans that clung onto her long legs made to look impossibly longer in the heels she was wearing. Hyunjin took note to the perfume she was wearing (somehow she could smell it from a couple of steps back), high-priced and undeniably pleasant. Even the way she walked, one step placed directly in front of the other, calculated and measured, only added to the whole vibe she appeared to be going for.

Jinsoul screamed elegance.

"Calm down." Jinsoul's voice was soft, as always, and carried a sweet tone to it as she tugged the passenger door open for Hyunjin with an unusual sense of familiarity. Hyunjin wasn't sure if the blonde was aware, but telling someone to 'calm down' was most certainly not going to calm them down. "Getting angry isn't going to gain you anything." She added, the slightest traces of amusement seeping into her voice.

Hyunjin scoffed in panic and disbelief when the woman turned to look at her expectantly, her hand gently holding the door open for her to get in. "There is no way in hell that I am getting in a car with you." Though her voice trembled, she felt proud that she had managed to stand up the intimidating figure.

Subtly rolling her eyes, Jinsoul fixed her posture and swiftly made a hand gesture. An unexpected force snapped from within somewhere deep inside Hyunjin, like a puppet's strings tugged by the puppet master. Suddenly, she was stumbling towards the car with the intentions of getting in. In an act of futile defiance, she slammed her hands onto the hood of the car and resisted the strong sensation, her knuckles turning white as her hands clenched into tight fists at the effort. Whatever it was, it terrified her. She had never not been in control of her body, the only other time that had been an exception being that night when Heejin had followed her into the alleyway-

Heejin.

Her stomach dropped and suddenly she recollected why she had wanted to die in the first place. Why she had even agreed to go to the party in the first place. She knew that blaming Heejin for what happened that night was immature, and unfair to the other girl. But Hyunjin's mind was torn apart at the conflict that the girl caused inside of her, and all of a sudden her heart was clenching painfully in her chest.

Beside her, Jinsoul breathed out particularly hard. "Stop thinking about her." She said bluntly. "Get in. I'll explain what I can on the way."

Gulping the lump that had decidedly lodged itself in her throat, Hyunjin turned to the blonde in surprise. "How did you know what I was thinking about?" She asked, her voice weak and careful (although undoubtedly curious).

"Like I said," Jinsoul swept her hand again with that glint in her eyes and Hyunjin was forced to take a seat on the white leather seats, "I'll explain on the way."

It was quiet for a while, the silence between them awkward and tense.

Hyunjin's mind raced with thoughts and possibilities. There was definitely some supernatural factor involved in this. Being bitten hard enough by a pretty blonde girl that left strange blue marks on her neck, then being dropped out of a three-story building onto gravel and surving, then having the uncontrollable impulse to eat one of her friends to later pass out and wake up three days later with no recollection of the missing time... it all felt like a dream. Her only logical explanation being that she was in some sort of social experiment and she was one of the subjects.

With a sigh, Jinsoul brought Hyunjin's attention to her. "I wouldn't call it supernatural but... I'm pretty sure by your definition that that's what I am."

Her breath hitched at the blatant revelation. Having someone else confirm her thoughts just solidified the situation more and she didn't know whether to feel relieved or panicked. "I- wha- tell me what's going on." She managed to get out a coherent sentence, but it only managed to get an emotionless laugh from Jinsoul.

"Where do you want me to start?" The woman's voice was ever so slightly playful, perhaps a little mocking as she expertly moved her hands around the controls of the car. Her movements were practiced and automatic, as if she had been driving for a very long time. Which was slightly unnerving since despite being older than her, her appearance didn't seem to be tainted by time.

Hyunjin frowned, staring hard at her. "Who and what are you?"

There was a moment's silence as Jinsoul took the time to think. Hyunjin wished she could read what was going through her mind - what she would find there if she could and if she would like what she found out. It was impossible to tell with the poker face that the woman was wearing. "I am a sanguisuge, though I prefer to be called vampire - it's less offensive." Hyunjin scoffed in incredulity, though immediately shut up when the blonde sent her a warning glare. "My name is Jung Jinsoul, and you are dead."

No. Impossible.

"You fell from a pretty high place." Jinsoul said impassively. It made a shiver run down Hyunjin's body. "You'd really be dead if I hadn't gotten to you in time."

That made her head spin. 'Dead'? If she recalled correctly, Jinsoul had said the same thing to her when she had offered the prospect of killing her. If she was dead, then how was she still alive?

"Sanguisuge's are complicated things..." Jinsoul interrupted her train of thought once more, swiftly cutting in as if she had asked the question aloud. "We are dead, but at the same time we are not. Your heart is still beating, but you no longer function like a human would. Because you are not human, you are a sanguisuge."

Hyunjin's mouth went dry. She was no longer human? How could she change species in the span of a couple of days? And she was dead now? How had this happened?

"This wasn't meant to happen." The blonde cut in again, her voice solemn. She had said these words to her before. "You were meant to be a quick snack - I'd had fed from you and then wiped your memory and you'd be along on your merry way. But for some reason you weren't hypnotised like others..."

"Hypnotised?" Hyunjin questioned, her voice cracking. This was unbelievable. She had never believed in things like the astrological signs or people that could control other people's behaviour patterns by making them fall asleep. It just didn't make sense - she knew that the brain was one of the most powerful and fascinating things that the human body had to offer, so for it to be so easily controlled by a couple of words was not realistic.

Jinsoul let out an annoyed huff, sending her an unreadable look. "It's not like what you think it is." She deadpanned, twisting her hands around the steering wheel. "Sanguisuges have the ability to release certain hormones at will. These hormones can alter a human's emotions and moods, so if I want someone to listen to me all I have to do is release a mixture of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine."

Surprised, Hyunjin mulled over the words. She knew that a mixture of those hormones created attraction, so it would make sense why a human would easily listen to someone they were attracted to. But as far as she knew, hormones released by the human body - which is what she assumed these vampires had - were usually kept within the sourcing body. So how would the hormones then affect other people around them? And if Jinsoul had tried applying this method on her, why hadn't it worked? Did that just mean that she didn't find Jinsoul attractive?

"To answer your question, sanguisuges radiate these hormones through a smell." Jinsoul looked expressionless again, her eyes focused on the road ahead of them.

"How do you know all of this?" Hyunjin questioned, unconsciously becoming more and more curious in the topic. She was slowly coming to terms with the fact that everything had certainly happened, and despite what the better half of her wanted to believe, this theory was definitely more than interesting.

A dark look washed over the blonde's face, the temperature in the vehicle seeming to drop a couple of degrees. Hyunjin's hair stood up on end, her fists slowly clenching as a self-defence mechanism. Perhaps this area was a little sensitive for the woman, if the way she scratched her nails on the leather of the steering wheel was anything to go by.

Noting how the conversation seemed to have abruptly come to an end, Hyunjin turned her head away from the woman. They were nearing the school now, and the faint sense of dread was beginning to accumulate inside of her. After these series of events, returning back to school didn't seem right. How was she going to explain her behaviour to Heejin after leaving her in the middle of unknown streets?

Her stomach twisted with worry at the thought. She'd had her friend cornered in a dark alleyway, prepared to dehumanise her and turn her into a meal as if she were some kind of ghoul. If Heejin had spread word to the rest of the girls, she'd just have to understand as best as she could and come to terms with her actions. Though maybe trying to apologise and explaining was a better option... Heejin was the most forgiving and caring person that she knew, so gaining her forgiveness wouldn't be as impossible as she first imagined.

Another factor came into play at the thought: maybe she didn't deserve to be forgiven.

If Jinsoul wasn't lying and Hyunjin believed the crazy theory, then it would mean that she was a vampire. Which probably meant that she needed blood to survive and could now be classified as a savage.

"As soon as you feel like you're going to lose control," Jinsoul's voice was quiet, and back to monotone, "I'll get you out of the situation."

Hyunjin frowned, though she couldn't help but feel a little more relaxed. Perhaps it was the thought that at least someone was prepared to back her up when she inevitably messed up. She hummed, turning to look outside of the car window and spotting more and more students making their way to school. "Why are you doing this for me?"

Unexpectedly, there was silence. So far, Hyunjin had been under the impression that Jinsoul knew everything and was someone who was very sure of herself, but the silence perhaps suggested otherwise when a thick tension was introduced in its place. The question, something she had said aloud in the heat of the moment, now plagued her mind. The blonde had been intent on killing her a couple of days ago, having promised her that she would grant her the wish of dying. However, instead of getting what she bargained for she was there, sitting in a luxurious car beside the same monster with the intent of killing her now telling her that she would help her. That she would be taken into a program she had never even heard of.

When there was no response for a little too long, Hyunjin angled her head to look at the vampire (she didn't know how else to describe her). Her face, as beautiful as it had been the night of the party, was emotionless and refused to betray any sign of her inner thoughts.

"You should go, your friend is waiting for you."

Hyunjin blinked sluggishly, startled at the obvious deflection. It had caught her completely off-guard and left her slightly annoyed that her concern had been ignored. Though she had more important matters to worry about: "What friend?"

Jinsoul turned her head to look at her, her face suddenly contorting to show a mischievous smirk. "That one you keep thinking about. The one you almost fed from?"

Finally swivelling in the leather seat, Hyunjin recognised the street outside their school grounds. There were straying students ogling at the sleek black car and whispering to one another as they discretely pointed at them. They seemed to be attracting a lot of unwanted attention - especially for Hyunjin since she had missed a couple of days of school without notice and had not contacted any of her 'friends' since she had gone missing at the party.

"She gives France vibes." Jinsoul added, seeming to take pleasure in the scowl that formed on the younger girl's face.

"How do you know?" Hyunjin growled protectively, readying herself to hurt the monster if she heard that she had laid as much as a finger on her friend. Not like she hadn't done the same, she reminded herself shamefully.

The blonde ran a hand through her hair, seeming to be acting more self-aware now that they had eyes on them. "How do you think she found you that night?" She chuckled humorlessly, leaning towards her. Hyunjin's heart stopped in her throat, her jaw clenching tightly despite the sharp pain shooting into her gums when she did so. "The city is not that small." Jinsoul's red lips spread into a sadistic grin, her face far too close for comfort as her body seemed to be reaching around Hyunjin. "Now, we don't want to keep our friend waiting, do we?"

Clack.

The car door was pushed open and Hyunjin couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief when Jinsoul moved back into her own seat. Her tenses had heightened, and she was pretty sure she'd felt the unfamiliar and unsettling sensation of her canine teeth being pushed out against her lower jaw at the sense of danger. Jinsoul seemed to be undisturbed by this fact, however, and relaxed against the leather. "Get out."

Inhaling sharply through her nose, Hyunjin gripped tightly onto her bag and spared the blonde one last glance before sliding out of the vehicle. She wasn't sure what to say - should she shoot out a defensive comment or a thank you for the ride?

It seemed that Jinsoul had plans of her own, though, when she effortlessly flicked her wrist and forced Hyunjin to close the door against her own will.

With that, the expensive black car pulled down the street and left her at the front of her school gates, where apparently the whole student body had gathered to watch.

Of course, that only had to include the last person she had wanted to see.

"Kim Hyunjin!"


	4. four

"Kim Hyunjin!"

Hyunjin's whole body tensed.

She didn't think she'd be hearing from Heejin so soon - she'd hoped she could have avoided her until she eventually gave way to the guilt that had been accumulating itself inside of her all of this time. Then maybe she could try to give the apology she'd formulated in hear head on the ride over a chance. It had only been five seconds since she arrived and already she was having to face the girl that terrified her most in the world (not even Jinsoul could compare to the fear she felt when looking at Heejin).

Her mind was racing with a billion thoughts at once and she tightened her grip on the strap of her bag. Her apology wasn't ready - she still needed more time to come up with a reasonable explanation.

It was easy to locate Heejin, even amongst the dispersing crowd of students. Her hair was dishevelled and slightly frizzy, as if she'd forgotten to brush it that morning, though it still fell down in those natural waves she had once told her she was jealous of. Her uniform was slightly unkempt: her shirt crumpled and half-tucked into her skirt, while the collar of her blazer was half-rolled up at the side. Hyunjin couldn't help but notice the shadows that had stained themselves under her angry, brown eyes currently digging daggers into her, her nostrils flaring slightly as they always did whenever she tried to control her breathing as to not get carried away.

Hyunjin felt herself soften at the image. No matter what expression or face she pulled, she'd always look adorable to her.

"Where the hell have you been?" Heejin shouted, turning the heads that weren't already watching the scene unfold in front of them. Her chest rose heavily up and down, appearing to have ran over from wherever she had previously been. "Why have you not been in school? Why didn't you text me if you were okay or not?"

Now that she was closer, Hyunjin consciously picked up that scent she had familiarised herself with that night. That same, sweet, tantalising one that had just been a heightened version of Heejin's perfume-plastered skin, the soft odour of the fabric softener from her clothes and most prominently: the bright, red blood alive in her veins. Her teeth faintly pushed at her lower jaw again, begging to be let out of their confines in her gums, but she blinked forcibly and instead focused on the smaller girl's expression.

Which was just anger and confusion and hurt as she finally came to stand in front of her. "You weren't even at home when I went to check to see if you were okay!" Heejin continued with a raised voice, reaching out and digging her forefinger into Hyunjin's chest.

To say she was surprised would've been an understatement.

Hyunjin had worried herself into madness at the thought of what Heejin would say when they saw each other again - if Heejin would hate her for the horrible thing she had done that night, if she would look at her with disdain and disappointment or if she would look at her at all. There were no positive outcomes, she'd told herself, when she had violated her friend by trying to eat her alive and then leaving her alone and defenseless in an unknown part of the city. She'd have reported her to the school, asked for her seats to be moved, or decided that she wasn't worthy of the 'best friend' title anymore. Or maybe all.

She didn't know which hurt the most.

So hearing her say that she had been worried about her, first and foremost, had caught her off guard. Heejin had put the effort into going to her apartment and checking up on her.

"Are you going to say anything?" Heejin shouted, punching Hyunjin in the chest with the side of her hand. There were pools of glimmering tears welling in her eyes, her nose beginning to turn red (like it always did when she cried, Hyunjin thought absently).

The loud volume and shove snapped her out of her stupor, forcing her to take a step back to regain her balance. She could feel the students' eyes on them, the whispers of what they thought was going on and the nearing footsteps of some teachers coming to get their pupils inside. Hyunjin was aware of every heartbeat, every word being uttered, every breath being taken. She was aware of the soreness in her throat as she watched her normally composed best friend lose control right in front of her.

Because of her.

"Let's go." Hyunjin muttered, careful to not be heard by the nosy on-lookers. They didn't deserve the slightest chance of seeing Heejin in this state.

"What?" Heejin scrunched her face up in frustration, probably not having caught her quietly spoken words.

Ignoring her confusion for the time being, Hyunjin snatched the smaller girl's wrist and led her away from the audience that had gathered. She made sure to send cold glares to anyone who stared for too long - this was none of their business and they had their own shit to deal with. She couldn't help but feel protectiveness wash over her when she glanced behind her and saw Heejin's big, teary eyes staring at her with both confusion and relief. It made her want to pull her closer, so that nothing and no one could hurt her ever again, but at the same time put as much distance between them as she could.

Hyunjin pushed away the feelings as soon as it came to her, feeling irritated at the unfamiliar emotions.

Soon they'd reach the side of the school, where imports were delivered through the large trucks that carried supplies purchased by the school. There was no one there today - Hyunjin could tell by the lack of heartbeats drumming loudly at the back of her head (there was only one, and it was beating very quickly).

"What's going on, Hyun?" Heejin's voice had softened, though it shook along with the tears in her eyes as she blinked profusely. Along the way, she'd somehow managed to maneuver her small hand into Hyunjin's and thread their fingers together. Hyunjin was too busy scanning around in case her instincts were wrong when she suddenly heard the other girl mumble, "you're so hot..." under her breath.

She was sure - positive - that she wouldn't have heard it if it weren't for her sudden ability to hear everything at a higher magnitude. Maybe she wasn't supposed to hear it in the first place - it being a passing thought through Heejin's ever-confusing mind. But she'd heard it, and she let out an uncharacteristic squeak of, "oh."

Realising that she'd heard her, Heejin's face immediately lit up a bright red. She pointedly looked away, an embarrassed look coating her beautiful features (Hyunjin would deny it to anyone who asked but she'd felt pride boom in her chest at the reaction she'd elicited). "Shut up, you're literally burning up." She glowered, even though the tips of her ears were tinting a traitorous pink.

Hyunjin frowned, swinging her bag over her shoulder so she could feel her skin with her free hand. "Am I?" When she touched the skin at her neck, all she could feel was her normal temperature. Maybe she had just warmed up in Jinsoul's expensive car on the drive over.

"Yeah, it's almost like you're sick-" Heejin stopped abruptly.

Confused at the sudden silence, Hyunjin scanned her friend's face. Her lips were pursed, as if she'd tasted something she hadn't quite liked but was trying to hide her reaction as best as she could. Her eyes were squinting at her, though not anywhere near her face. Instead at her neck, where her own fingers were experimentally testing out the skin there for her temperature.

"What's that?"

Hyunjin physically shivered at the sound of Heejin's voice. For some reason, the smaller girl thought it'd be a good idea to drop her already deep voice a few octaves. She could feel that same familiar feeling of disorder and turbulence rile up inside of her, the thought 'she'd make a good meal, why don't you take a bite' passing through her mind before quickly being banished as soon as it made its appearance.

At the lack of response, Heejin took matters into her own hands. Literally.

"W-what-" Hyunjin startled when the smaller girl released her hand and instead gripped at her jaw, trying to get her to turn her head. "Heejin, what are you doing?"

Said girl only tightened her grip and directed her other hand to the back of her head, successfully getting her to tilt her chin to the side and expose the length of her neck. Strained, Heejin's warm breath faintly brushed her sensitive skin, as if teasing her into submission beneath the weight of her commanding hands and fiery glare. It made the monster, that had been faintly jeering and prowling in her mind and somewhere in her body, fall silent under whatever spell the other girl had put her in.

Momentarily, Hyunjin wondered if this was how Heejin had felt when she'd done almost the same thing to her in the alleyway, and if she'd been as panicked as she was right now.

"This." Heejin pinched at her neck, and Hyunjin immediately recoiled.

She jumped back at a speed she didn't even know she could move at, clutching at her neck with the palm of her hand and growling defensively.

Whatever Jinsoul had done to her when she'd sunk her teeth into her flesh, it hadn't quite yet healed yet. Hyunjin felt all of the moisture leave her mouth and her lungs as a blinding, white, searing pain shot through her mind, forcing her knees to buckle beneath the weight of her body. She could feel something she could only describe as venom coursing in her veins, the highest peak of pain sourcing from the wound on her neck and spreading numbingly throughout the rest of her body. It was similar to the pain she had felt after she had hit the ground at the bottom of the three storey building.

Her teeth were bared, her canines prepared to push out and extend to their full length threateningly but held back by the fear in Hyunjin's mind. Already, she could feel the monster begging to be let out to 'punish the puny human'.

Heejin's eyes were wide, staring at her with a mixture mild horror and regret on her face.

At that, Hyunjin forced herself to revert back to herself, taking a hesitant step closer to the other girl. "Heejin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to react like that." Her voice trembled, panic flooding her veins. At least last time it had been dark, and Heejin wouldn't have been able to make out the horrible expression on her face. But now the sun was out, and Heejin had seen the genuine reaction. There had been no mistaking it.

"What is that?" Heejin asked again, this time more collected than the last. Her eyes wavered, as if conflicted on whether to look at the scar on her neck or the pleading eyes.

Sighing, Hyunjin ran a hand through her hair and threw her school bag against the brick wall in a fit. This was all too much to handle. Everything was happening so quickly and there were so many things that she needed to worry about all at once that she literally couldn't keep up. She was tired despite having been unconscious for three days straight and needed something to lean on.

Heejin followed as if it were her second nature, subconsciously moving closer to Hyunjin despite having seen the terrifying state first hand. The human, although looking uncertain and fearful, leant beside her, easily slipping her hand into the other's larger, warmer one. Hyunjin's heart clenched inside of her chest again. She didn't deserve to be treated so kindly - as if she were still the same girl she was when she had arrived at that party... as if she hadn't left it in the form of a monster. Why was the other girl not scared of her?

"You won't believe me." Hyunjin admitted weakly, closing her eyes. She should probably cherish this moment. It was likely going to be one of their last shared together if things went how she expected them to go.

Beside her, Heejin let out a small huff of air, while at the back of her head she could hear her best friend's heartbeat pick up pace. "I don't know what to believe anymore, Hyun..." Her voice was raspy and deep, melancholy in every dip of her words and disappointed as she let the silence surround them. In the distance, bustling city life continued and voices of students talking over one another could be heard. Heejin squeezed her hand - for comfort, or for assurance, she wasn't too sure. "I know that I was worried sick when you didn't turn up to school on Monday. You just left me in that alleyway, after-"

It didn't have to be said. Hyunjin knew what Heejin was implying with the unfinished sentence, and the fact that she knew only made her cheeks flame up in shame and embarrassment. If that had been on the girl's mind, then why wasn't she pushing her away? Why wasn't she calling her disgusting, or a monster like she had done to herself? Like she truly deserved?

"Y-you- I-" Heejin stuttered, seeming to struggle with her words. Hyunjin could feel every single reaction the human was having. The erratic heartbeat, the shortness of breath, the sweating of palms and worst of all: the sudden intensity of that tempting scent that had almost sent her over the edge last time. Her friend pushed off of the wall to stand in front of her, her features twisting into an angry frown. "Why did you do that?"

Ah, there it was. That justified anger she had been anticipating ever since she had made that mistake. It still hurt having it directed at her, being the first time Heejin had ever directed such negative feelings at her so blatantly, though she couldn't help but feel a little relieved that the truth was getting out now.

"W-what- I- do you like me?"

Oh.

Wait.

What?

Hyunjin's breath caught in her throat and she physically choked on her spit.

"What?" 

A rush of anxiety flooded through her. Hyunjin hadn't even thought of it that way, though she shouldn't have been so surprised now that she looked back at it in a different light.

Her pushing Heejin up against a wall in the darkness of an alley without as much as an explanation, intoxicated not only by the alcohol she'd had earlier that night but by the scent that managed to pull the monster out of her. How she'd held her head back with her hand as she ran her tongue along the expanse of her bare neck only to lay an open-mouthed kiss there-

Of course.

Of course, why hadn't she realised it before?

The way she'd bitterly watched as Heejin longed to be elsewhere but with her at the party - having had that same feeling before whenever she'd turn away momentarily from one of their conversations to talk to one of her admirers that'd come to confess. Her chest warming at the mere thought of Heejin or whenever the smaller girl would cling onto her and initiate any type of skinship. The way that she'd sometimes lose track of time in class while staring at her best friend's side profile, grinning gently whenever her chin that had been resting on her closed fist would slip because she'd doze off slightly. How she would willingly go out of her way to share her food with the other girl despite being ridiculously over protective for it.

Even now, with Heejin standing in front of her, cheeks tinted a bright red color and the most conflicted expression on her beautiful face, she felt herself react positively.

Her hand had loosened its grip on the smaller one, her mouth forming unpronounced words uselessly.

Even with the thick silence between them, Heejin remained standing there with a determined expression on her face (though it faltered slightly when Hyunjin averted her eyes).

Did she like Heejin?

Did Hyunjin like her?

Was Hyunjin in love with Heejin?

Hyunjin's mind brought her back to that night, seeming to enjoy watching her struggle with all of these burdening feelings bursting all at once from wherever she'd kept them supressed. Brought her back to the surprised gasps that had escaped from Heejin's lips. To the way the other girl hadn't immediately pushed her away but instead allowed her to access her neck far too easily. The way she'd crumbled far too quickly in her hold. She could still feel her grip on her jacket pulling her closer. The pressure of her fingers on her wrist.

Oh my god.

She was positive her face was bright red. Though that wasn't the only thing beginning to morph color.

"Hyunjin." Heejin said warily, eyes beginning to widen.

Hyunjin knew why: her own eyes were beginning to tint in that same way they had when she'd been stumbling blind on the streets. Thought this time, instead of a crimson filter clouding her vision, a yellow filter was placed over her eyes.

The human girl stood there, hand still holding tight onto her own as if she were trying to anchor herself to her - as if she'd run if she didn't keep holding on. Hyunjin knew she was stubborn, but she didn't think she'd be this stubborn. Stupid girl, she thought to herself as she actively pushed the monster away from her mind, though she wasn't sure if those were actually her thoughts or if was the monster's louder voice.

"Heejin, I'm not what you think I am." Hyunjin managed to get out, trying to distance herself from the other girl. She didn't want a repeat of what had happened in the alley. She didn't want to hurt her best friend. She didn't want to be a sanguisuge or a vampire. She didn't want her life to change. She didn't want Heejin to hate her.

Visibly clenching her jaw, Heejin shakily stepped closer to her. Hyunjin could see her legs trembling beneath her own weight, as if about to give out from the absurdity of it all. "W-what are you, then?" Her voice cracked halfway through (a voice in Hyunjin's head said it was adorable before it was quickly scolded by the more reasonable part of her). The heartbeat in the back of her mind was pounding wildly - so quickly that she wanted to stop and ask Heejin if she was okay. She found herself fearing for the girl's well-being, scared that she'd have a heart attack right then and there.

Hyunjin held her breath.

She wanted to say human. She badly wanted to say human. With all of her being she wanted to be human.

She thought back to what Jinsoul had said - what she had explained to her.

"You are dead."

Memories of her falling from the third floor of a building and colliding with the ground at the bottom swarmed her head. She could remember it clearer than before. The blood spilling from her mouth at the impact and her bones snapping painfully under the crunch of the gravel. How quickly the wound on her neck had reacted as the life left her body, spreading some sort of venom through her veins and sending the nerves that connected to her brain reeling. Her body had convulsed painfully on the gravel, back arching off of the ground at the searing pain that had taken over her.

Hyunjin had the memory, but she had no injuries.

"A monster..."

Heejin's brow furrowed, her lips parting automatically as if disagreeing with any self-deprecating statement that Hyunjin made was her duty.

But Hyunjin wouldn't allow her to tell her otherwise. What she did next may have been the stupidest decision she'd ever made in her life.

She allowed the monster to take control of her for a second. Subconsciously, she let out a dark, victorious chuckle, produced by the bestial part of her that she had released from its confines. Her vision stained completely yellow, her jaw dropping to allow her canines to extend to their full length in a threateningly hungry manner. Tugging out of their place in an excruciatingly slow motion, her teeth were finally bared with the faint stains of her own blood produced by the sensitivity of her gums. Dazedly, she ran her tongue along the front of her teeth, tasting the metallic substance in its full flavor but quickly being forgotten when her sense of smell acuted to Heejin's blood instead.

Yelping in surprise and fear, Heejin took a step back.

Before either of them knew it, Hyunjin had Heejin in her personal space with hooded eyes, her grip on her hand preventing her from moving away. Inside her mind, she was fighting desperately to regain whatever control she could grasp at, panicking when she saw her best friend gulping from the fear she was feeling. She couldn't let this happen-

"Hyun-"

Heejin's whimper was cut short when Hyunjin forcibly gripped the side of her neck and brought her closer than before. Somehow, the monster knew exactly what to do, despite having just appeared inside her mind a couple of days ago. Hyunjin was pressing her thumb onto the smaller girl's airway, restricting her breathing faintly and ultimately stopping her from actually getting any words out. Not that Heejin looked like she could say anything any time soon, with the dumbfounded and stunned expression on her face.

"Please-" Heejin choked out, squeezing her glimmering eyes shut when Hyunjin managed to access her neck (with far too much ease, once again). The monster's canines grazed the supple skin, dilated eyes set on the target of the pounding blood beneath it. The human sounded terrified. "-don't-"

Hyunjin positively freaked out when the monster made her tongue flick out and taste the sweetness of Heejin's skin. What did it think this was? Some sort of game where it could have fun and toy with people's emotions?

It didn't help how Heejin's breath caught in her throat at the sensation, her hands flying up to grip at the collar of her blazer - to push or to pull, Hyunjin couldn't tell as she felt both.

Before she could get much further, the sound of a door slamming shut successfully broke her out of her trance. She released her hold on the human and immediately put as much distance as she could between them. Already her teeth were retracting back into place and her vision was beginning to return to normal.

"Heejin-sunbaenim!"

Said girl snapped her head in the direction of the voice, eyes wide and her posture shaking as her legs threatened to give out completely. "Yerim?" She asked, confused.

Hyunjin heard everything too distantly as she allowed her body to slide down the brick wall, clutching at her stomach with her hands and clenching her jaw as tight as she could. The monster seemed to be satisfied with its little outing for now, and was quiet in her head. It was as if it had only wanted to come out to cause some trouble and had now left her to deal with the consequences of its actions - her actions. There was a horrible feeling in her chest as she panted heavily, feeling it seize her and squeeze every last breath of air out of her lungs.

It had happened again. She had let it happen again.

"The music teacher is looking for you." A lively voice could be heard faintly in her ears. "Second period is going to be starting soon, I didn't want you to be late."

"N-no," Heejin breathed out heavily, still sounding as shell-shocked as Hyunjin had left her, "of course not, I'll just- did he say why he needed me?"

"Nope!" Hyunjin bit her tongue, trying to go back to her normal self as quickly as possible. "Hey, is your friend okay?"

There was a small pause of tense silence, and Heejin's untamed heartbeat pounded loudly in the back of her head. She could hear how the human held her breath, as if hesitating on her answer.

"Anyway, we really need to get going now."

Confused as to why Heejin hadn't responded to the question, Hyunjin allowed herself to peer through her stinging eyelids. The girl was staring at her with an unreadable expression on her face, though her eyes portrayed the fear and fright she must have been feeling at seeing the monster she had become. There was definitely no going back from this - Hyunjin would rather run away some place far where she couldn't hurt Heejin than having to deal with the look she was giving her right now.

As if snapping out of her thoughts, Heejin nodded carefully and began to move to the door being held open for her. Her eyes, conflicted and distressed, remained on her until she ultimately disappeared through the door.

Hyunjin felt her chest convulse terribly, tears springing up in her eyes. She had lost Heejin.

"Hyunjin-sunbaenim."

Startled, Hyunjin jerked her head in the direction of the cold, emotionless voice (a stark contrast to the tone used to address Heejin). The way the honorific was pronounced was almost loathing, completely and utterly bitter - as if it were some sort of insult rather than a sign of respect. The girl producing was standing at the door, her hand tightly gripping its surface to show the whites in her knuckles. Her hair was long and brown and straightened to perfection, not a strand out of place. Her face was round, shaped to portray youthfulness and innocence - though her eyes were the complete opposite. Dark, hostile, nefarious to a certain degree.

"I'd stay away from any humans, if I were you."

Hyunjin watched helplessly as the girl followed in Heejin's footsteps, disappearing into the school building and letting the door shut behind her.

As soon as she was alone, her tears began to spill.

She had told herself that she wouldn't hurt Heejin no matter what - that she'd do her best to protect her whether she was a sanguisuge or not. But she had consciously and single-handedly made the decision to let the monster take control of her. She knew exactly what its motivations and desires were, yet she was still stupid enough to succumb to its words and voice and now Heejin had seen what she actually was and she was horrified. Heejin loathed her now - for good reasons. And the fact that it was justified just made the whole thing worse.

Maybe she did deserve to die.

Maybe she should have just let Jinsoul take her life when she'd offered.

Maybe then she wouldn't be a danger to Heejin. To anyone.

She didn't choose to be a sanguisuge - a vampire. She didn't enjoy the sight of blood like some of her 'friends' who enjoyed endorsing their time into watching those horror movies on their phones during class, neither had she wanted to attend that goddamned party in the first place. She just had to be there at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Why was her life like this? Was there even a god up there? Why would he create something so vile? Why would he allow her to become something so inhumane?

Hyunjin tugged at her hair in frustration.

A sigh cutting through the silence made her jerk back.

"Pick up your bag, we're going."

With wide, red, teary eyes, Hyunjin looked up at Jinsoul. Her expression was blank, her red lips set in a firm line and her eyes staring emotionlessly down at her - unreadable as always. Her blonde hair glistened in the light, and Hyunjin was tired enough to briefly compare her to an angel sent from the heavens to save her. It was just the monster talking.

Seeing that Hyunjin wasn't moving, the older woman swiftly moved to grab the strap of her school bag and swung it over her shoulder. "Get up." She commanded, not bothering to wait for her as she began to walk back in the direction of the school gates.

Rubbing at her nose pitifully, Hyunjin wordlessly followed after the woman.

She sent a fleeting glance over her shoulder in the direction of her classroom, faltering when she made eye contact with those brown eyes she already missed so much. It froze her in place, and she felt the tears beginning to prick at her eyes again.

"Let's go, Kitten, we don't have all day." Jinsoul called from further down the path, a bored look on her face as she sent her a small glare.

Reluctantly and distracted by the nickname, Hyunjin followed after the other sanguisuge.

Away from school.

Away from Heejin.


	5. five

The forlorn building overlooked the view of the city from its place high up on the bordering mountains, peaks of trees shooting up from the steep ground to decorate the horizon with their silhouettes. The location was vague - further down was a high-priced town owned by millionaires and well-off celebrities looking to get away from the proletariat lifestyle that kept the city running day and night. There was never a moment where the buildings rising into the skyline stopped shining with their orange and yellow and white lights, illuminating the night when the sun sunk into the mountains and turning off when it came back up again the following morning. This was all visible from the wide, clear curtain walls that lined the whole of the back part of the building, including all the way from the bottom floor where an indoor pool was situated to the top floor, where the large master bedroom en-suite was fixed.

The decor was minimal - there were no photographs on the walls and whatever paintings there were seemed to be of contemporary artists portraying landscapes or weird splatters of paint. One would think the colorscheme to be monochromatic, what with all the different shades of blue appearing in each room without fail, though the occasional addition of silvers and golds proved otherwise. They just seemed to add more to the house price. Not to mention the large aquarium installed in the 'ground floor' (second floor) lit up with a range of neon lights but only housing the lone fish weaving in and out of artificial seaweed.

Perhaps having recently acquired acrophobia from a traumatic experience involving falling from towering heights wasn't the best thing when you found yourself residing in that same master bedroom with the chilling view to the city bellow.

Given, Hyunjin did her best to keep to the other side of the room, plastering herself to the farthest corner from the metallic double doors she had managed to seal with the lock, and then just to make sure had tugged her blazer coat around the handles. As much as she had wanted to lock herself in a dark room, away from any light where she could be reminded of what she was, Jinsoul had taken her into her bedroom and disappeared. It gave her enough time to formulate some sort of plan on how she was going to cope with the new changes, which led to her locking the blonde out of her own sleeping space and invading the bedroom as her own.

After the first two nights, Hyunjin had stopped paying attention to the time.

Jinsoul had of course tried to get back into her bedroom - many times - but had always relented and moved to the guest bedroom across the hallway instead.

"You're being immature," She had called through the threshold to the bedroom on the second night, "let me in, right now."

Hyunjin hadn't replied, instead moving to cover her ears to block out the sound of the woman's voice. The memories of her luring her into a dark place to potentially kill her (and succeeding in the end) replaying over and over in her mind. She had downright made the decision to hate the monster - her kidnapper, her tormentor, her creator - and come to terms with every piece of information that had been relayed to her. When Jinsoul got tired of trying to get her to open up the door, she'd tell her more about sanguisuges and their lifestyle. Her lifestyle, now.

"The purpose of the heart is to pump the blood of its host through the circulatory system in order to get oxygen and nutrients to the body." Jinsoul's impromptu biology lessons strangely made Hyunjin relax a little, familiar with the terminology from having studied it in all of her free time. "As sanguisuges, we lose some properties of our blood that allows us to carry sufficient nutrients we would usually get from digesting food, which means that we don't have enough energy to actually function. When a human is injected with the wrong sanguisuge venom, the modified virus in the venom spreads across their body through the circulatory system and causes them to go into a coma where the multiplied virus changes their DNA in order to survive in the new host. This is why you were unconscious for three days straight."

Her brain felt numb while trying to listen to all of the science behind being a vampire. In all of the novels she had read and all of the movies she had watched that had to do with this topic, they had never mentioned any of this. Sure, she had heard about falling into a 'vampiric comatose', but she never imagined it to be because of a virus. Truthfully, she had just thought it had to be because of magic, which obviously didn't exist.

"Aren't you a stubborn one, Kitten?" Jinsoul's patronising voice easily pierced the door and rang out into the large bedroom. It was the fourth night. Hyunjin felt herself scrunch her face up, wrapping her arms tighter around herself on the bed in frustration (her body had gotten tired of sleeping on the floor, so she'd stolen one of the oversized shirts in the walk-in closet and changed into it before making her mark on the neat bed). She positively detested that nickname and the blonde knew it. "If you don't come out to eat, you'll get too bloodthirsty and become a savage. I don't want to find any of my things broken in there."

Hyunjin had been refusing Jinsoul's attempts at getting her to drink from the blood she brought her. By drinking it, she'd be letting the monster win. She'd give up the last fragments of humanity she still had left. She would never be able to go back to how she was ever again.

"Do you remember what I told you about our blood?" Jinsoul began, and Hyunjin already knew that she was about to go into another lengthy explanation. "We don't get enough nutrients from eating solid food, because something you get from the supermarket or from the stores has already been processed so many times that it loses its energy. Kids your age must have studied how food chains work, right? Well, the things at the beginning of the food chain have the most energy, and keep decreasing in value as you go along because energy is wasted throughout the life of the living thing. If we want the most energy possible that is also compatible with our blood, we would need another living thing's blood, too. Without it, we would starve - fizzle out without the energy. Before that can happen, though, the virus kicks in and overrides your brain so you eat properly. Like a defense mechanism."

That would explain why Hyunjin could barely open her eyes anymore, even the slightest task of having to turn over to the other side of the bed depleting her energy. Her chest was clenching painfully and her stomach was cramping up more than ever.

It was like feeling hungry but twenty times worse.

She didn't know how many days had passed, but Jinsoul still hadn't commanded her to open the door or hadn't broken it down in order to get in - both of which she could easily do in a few seconds. Hyunjin was slightly confused as to why she hadn't done so (a small part of her wished she'd just force herself in and make her drink the blood, just to stop the pain. It was probably the monster talking, though.) and had half expected Jinsoul to have lost her patience and broken the door down by now. But her blazer remained on the handles, keeping herself from the outside world.

On a particular dark night, the clouds covering the skies so not even the stars could peek through, Jinsoul knocked softly on the door. "I know how it feels." The usually confident, blank voice was softer than normal, tinged with something Hyunjin would assume was... sadness?

At the unfamiliarity of the tone, Hyunjin forced her eyes open and stared at the closed door. Her vision was yellow, meaning she could make out the outline of objects in the room clearer than she would have been able to had she been human.

"If you think I like being like this - you're wrong."

Silence.

"I know how it feels: to have your life abruptly ripped from your hands as if it's worthless, like it means nothing. I know how it is to hate yourself because you're a savage - a monster, a demon, a sanguisuge." The way Jinsoul pronounces the word is with a foreign accent. It makes it sound like an ancient word - an insult from times pulled out from the history books in Hyunjin's old bedroom. "You don't want to live anymore, because you're hideous when you look at yourself in the mirror and you're hideous when you walk on the streets craving other people's blood. You don't want to live anymore because your life isn't like it used to be - you can't be how you used to be."

Hyunjin's heart contracted painfully in her chest, the overwhelming wave of sadness washing over her curled up body.

"I know how it feels to hate your creator." She could hear the bitterness in Jinsoul's voice - the raw, open emotions as she spoke softly through the barrier between them. "You see them as evil - the spawn of the devil, sent from the pits of Hell itself. How could they do this to you? How could she do this? Does she think it's fun? To take life and to never give it back? To condemn an innocent to a life full of darkness and gore and horror? Why me? Out of all of the people - all of the other humans with shitty lives plagued with illnesses and epidemics - why me?" Hyunjin could hear the waver in Jinsoul's rising voice. "Why didn't she just let me die when there was still a chance? When I still wanted to so badly? I-"

Jinsoul's rant was cut off, and Hyunjin almost wanted to push herself up from the bed and open the door.

But she didn't.

Instead, she curled into herself and closed her eyes tightly, ignoring the swirling sensation in her head as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

When she next came to, there was an unfamiliar voice seeping through the dark, wooden floorboards of the bedroom. Though Hyunjin's hearing was a little muffled from the intense hunger she was feeling and the tiredness that had draped itself over her body, she could make out the conversation.

"...not going to repeat the same mistake. I'm not going to fuck up again." That was Jinsoul, she identified easily.

"I don't think the syndicate care if you're going to 'fuck up' or not." A new voice. Female. Not old, but not young. No smell. "You already know they went easy on you last time, and even that punishment was horrible. If they find out again, then-"

"Then they're not going to find out, are they?" Jinsoul snapped, her voice sounding aggressive. It made Hyunjin blink in surprise - she hadn't ever heard her be this agitated, other than last night. It almost made her fearful of the blonde woman, though the faint hatred that came along with the unwanted responsibility of being a blood-sucking monster easily overrode the fear.

After a pause of silence, the woman spoke up again, this time sounding slightly disbelieving. "You're planning on keeping her? She's just a child - you said so yourself. In this day and age, everyone keeps track of everything: the human government have been keeping tabs on us for years now, and if they notice something is off with one of them then you know who they will turn to first. And you know that will just end up worse than if you just get it over and done with quickly-"

"That is not an option."

"Jinsoul-"

"Not. An. Option."

Pause.

Hyunjin wasn't stupid. She was one of the top students for a reason and she had wasted her time studying her life away, so it wasn't at all difficult to string things together and come to the conclusion that they were talking about her. It was mind-boggling to find out that the government had known about sanguisuges all along, though she wasn't really surprised with the amount of secrets they were probably hiding from the public.

"Okay." The unknown woman relented, sounding defeated that she had lost whatever it was they were arguing about. "Just so you know, things have changed since the last time."

Jinsoul sighed. "I know that... but the syndicate doesn't even know I'm back, do they? I haven't spoken to them in years and neither have you, what with that little side project you and that little scientist of yours have going on."

"The 'little scientist' has a name, Jinsoul." The woman sounded reprimanding, as if she were scolding her child for bad behaviour. "What she's trying to do isn't that bad, you know?"

"The idea of it may not be bad, but the experiment is impossible. She's just wasting her time with it, and you shouldn't be letting her. She should be at university - or in a lab - or trying to find the cure for cancer."

"That's what I told her, but she's almost as stubborn as you are."

"Don't be an ass." Jinsoul scoffed, though it didn't sound as offended as Hyunjin had anticipated. Perhaps the two were good friends? They were talking casually with one another, so it wouldn't be hard to believe.

There was a few moments of silence. Hyunjin tried straining her hearing, wondering if perhaps they had begun whispering because they discovered her eavesdropping. She had no idea what it was they were talking about, but this was the most open she had ever heard Jinsoul, and she was willing to find out any details to help her get out of the situation she was in.

"Do you know?" The woman asked, her voice hesitant to breach this new topic.

Hyunjin could hear the inquiry in Jinsoul's voice as she asked back, "know what?"

"Choerry-"

"What is it?" Jinsoul interrupted impatiently.

Hyunjin could hear the hesitation thick in the woman's voice, as if what she was about to say could change everything. "After you went rogue, they found her." Hyunjin couldn't understand who 'they' was, and why it was such a big deal, but the silence that followed the confession gave her an inkling that this was important. "No one else would take in a dangerous, neglected sanguisuge - especially such a young one at that. She was kept in the syndicate foundation for a couple of years until they came to a decision that they couldn't keep her anymore, and they had to give her to someone else." There was a pause, as if to make the moment more dramatic when it came. "The reason why you couldn't find her after you came back, and why no one else knew about her..." Hyunjin concentrated on the voices, curious as to what this could even mean. "I-They..."

"Say it."

There was a heavy exhale of breath, as if relieving the tension from the body. "Lip has her." There was a bout of deafening silence. "No sanguisuge would take her - said that she was a mistake, which is complete bullshit, but - eventually the syndicate turned to Lip and she accepted, and-"

"What the fuck?" Jinsoul was shouting, anger clear in her voice. "They gave her to Jungeun?"

"Jinsoul, Choerry would have been killed if it weren't for-"

"Vivi! Listen to yourself!" Hyunjin didn't think that listening to Jinsoul's normally quiet voice be pronouncing words so loudly felt right.Rather, it felt off. "That witch is a she-devil! A symphalian! She's a fucking demon, for fucks sake-"

"Does it matter what she is?" Vivi's (Hyunjin assumed that was the woman's name) voice darkened, sounding grim and dangerously low. "You've never cared for species, Jinsoul. Whether they're one of us or whether they're a demon." There were more species? So it wasn't just sanguisuges living amongst the oblivious humans, wandering around in the streets as if they were one of them. The possibility of that being true made Hyunjin balk, a chill running down her spine. Vivi's voice softened, a tinge of understanding coming into play. "It's not because of that. You know it. It's because you-"

"Don't-" Jinsoul hissed, venom lacing her voice. "Don't you dare. If you finish that sentence, I will obliterate you on the spot."

Hyunjin's breath halted in her throat, her whole body tensing at the threat.

Though her head was spinning, Hyunjin did her best to keep her eyes open.

"I'm not going to respond to that. You and I both know what would happen if you were to attack." Vivi's voice was devoid of any emotion, though even Hyunjin could hear the power behind her voice. "I'm surprised that even after all of these years you still haven't gotten over it but- let's not talk about it for now. Instead, let's worry about the problem at hand: what are we going to do with your new project?"

"Vivi...."

"Fine, fine: the newborn. Better?" When there was no response, the woman continued. "Has she still not eaten?"

"No, she refuses to feed."

Vivi made a tutting sound, displeasure in the small noise. "All you have around here is animal blood, of course she won't feed."

Jinsoul made an offended grunt in response. "There's nothing wrong with animal blood - you get more energy drinking straight from the animals that from the humans, and you know that Haseul helped me with that piece of information."

A hum. "Still, we can both agree that it tastes disgusting." There were some heavy footsteps, most likely the sound of someone sliding their feet on the wooden boards. "If the newborn doesn't feed soon, she'll go savage. And then I'll have to deal with her and put her down if she misbehaves, and I'm not really in the mood for killing anything."

"Ha, what changed?" Jinsoul's voice was almost back to its normal self, though it sounded a little weak from her outburst. "Spent too much time in Haseul's lab?"

"Quiet." There was snark in Vivi's response, though it sounded like she didn't really mind the jab. "I don't really have another choice since I promised to help her, do I? Plus, with Yeojin around almost all of the time it's not like I can go out, get a snack, come back and not feel guilty."

"Understandable..."

"Either way, Haseul has some extra blood supplies. If you want, I can go get some and come back tomorrow?"

"Ah, I think it's about time I do something." Jinsoul sounded relieved at the strange offer. "I can't hear her heart beat from the other room anymore, so I have to sleep outside to make sure she doesn't fizzle out."

"Sard... I don't think she'll last until tomorrow then."

"Can't you just go get some now and then come back?"

"I-I promised Yeojin I'd pick her up from school today - poor kid is getting bullied and doesn't want her sister to know."

Jinsoul hissed an intake of breath. "Fine, I'll go get it myself. I'll drop you off in the city and then head to Haseul's."

"Sure." Vivi replied.

The sequence of sounds that followed - the sound of a pair of footsteps scuffing the mahogany floorboards, the clinking of keys and the closing of the front door - let Hyunjin know that both women had left the premises of the building, leaving her alone in the softly lit room. Her mind was swirling around with thoughts and nausea, both mixing together to produce a faint migraine in her head.

There were so many things Hyunjin wanted to find out: what was the syndicate? Why was Vivi telling Jinsoul to kill her and why didn't Jinsoul want to kill her? Why was Jinsoul so distressed when Vivi mentioned the two other people? How many sanguisuges were there and did demons exist in physical form?

If there could be a bad time to have an existential crisis, it was now, lying on the bed of your vampiric creator, locked in her room and starving yourself to death because you didn't want to drink blood. Drinking blood would mean accepting the life of a sanguisuge - it would mean finally pushing away her humanity forever and letting the monster in her mind become a part of her.

A tear slipped out of the side of her yellow-tinted eyes, tracing her cold, emotionless face as she stared into space. Hyunjin allowed herself to drift off into oblivion - possibly for the last time.

-

The next time she came to, she could barely feel anything. Her eyes had flipped open like a light switch in the dark, wide with a ravenous sense of urgency, still tinted that same sickening yellow that it had been for the past couple of days. Unnervingly, the voice of the monster vocalising its desire for blood had disappeared, and was replaced with a perturbing state of serenity that contradicted the sudden rush of adrenaline pumping through her weak, starved body. No thoughts were formed in her mind, though she could still feel her consciousness there - watching, spectating.

A scent - strong in aroma and sweet in fragrance - suffocated her primal senses. It made her head spin pleasantly and her chest churn in anticipation.

Heedlessly, Hyunjin pushed herself up from the mattress and stumbled through the sheets wrapped around her, tugging on her limbs to restrict her back to the confines of the bed. Her canines had already extended fully, as if they had come out while she was asleep and unaware of the state of mind she was about to be launched in. There was a strange feeling of childish eagerness and impatience - a feeling she remembered getting when she would wait outside the bakery in the mornings to buy her breakfast. Even though her muscles strained with the gravity willing to pull her to the ground, she was able to cross the lengthy distance from the queen-sized bed to the double doors, dazedly shuffling her bare feet on the smooth surface.

She grunted as she tried to tug the door open, able to smell that inciting scent a little better now. The doors refused to let her out, no matter how hard she pulled and pushed.

A wave of frustration and anger washed over her and she felt herself let out a maddened growl through her sharp teeth, almost screaming as she launched her full weight at the door once, twice - desperate to get a taste of the salivating blood pumping through a prey's circulatory system downstairs - thrice, and falling successfully into the dark hallway.

Her hearing was blocked, muffled as if she were under water. She could barely hear herself stumbling down the flight of stairs, only aware of how heavy her footsteps were thanks to the vibrations quivering up her bones. Her only goal was to find the source of the scent, and she would not let anything get in her way.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she was met with the sight of Jinsoul standing protectively in front of a small figure. Her yellow vision would not allow her to see what sort of expression the woman was wearing, but instead allowed her to locate the origin of the blood.

Jinsoul tried to say something to her - she could tell from the way her mouth moved.

Her hunger spiked further as she saw the amount of blood that the prey had in its hands, her pupils dilating as she zeroed in on it. It was so close. So close.

With a feral growl of excitement, she dashed her way across the hall at a speed she had never travelled at before.

As soon as she approached the prey at a distance of three metres, a strong hold at her throat prevented her run and held her back, choking her airway. Every molecule in her body strained in sinful desire for the blood placed a torturous distance from her, and she faintly felt herself let out a lunatic howl of initiation, the sound making her vocal chords tremble and shake in Jinsoul's hold.

Her hands ripped and scratched at Jinsoul's wrist, desperately tearing in hopes of satiating her need to feed. Despite the lack of energy she had felt before, she was throwing herself wildly in the direction of the blood and using all of her strength to escape the hold.

Over her deafened hearing, she could hear the panicked shouting of voices, Jinsoul's grip on her loosening slightly when she tore through her skin and caused blood to seep through her pale skin.

Just as she was about to break Jinsoul's arm, a plastic texture was placed in her open mouth and her jaw was forcibly closed, causing her teeth to sink into whatever it was.

The metallic, bitter taste hit her tongue and her senses focused greedily on the packet of blood, holding it to her face in order to drink as much as she could. When she drained one, another was placed in her hands and she sunk her sharp canines into it, drinking up every last bit of the thick texture that she could get. As soon as she drained the second one, another replaced it.

"That's my last one."

Her senses were coming back to her, her vision slowly loosing its yellow tint and her thoughts beginning to formulate more clearly in her mind.

"What about that one?"

"No, not that one. I haven't tested it yet."

"We have no choice, she'll still be hungry."

Sure enough, the packet dropped from her hands and her focus landed on the wide-eyed woman watching her every move through her round glasses.

"Okay."

Another packet was placed in her hands and she took no time ripping into it.

This time, however, it tasted different. It was like drinking dirty water - like the blood had some kind of rough particles mixed into the supposedly smooth liquid. In her hands, it looked darker than the other packets she'd had, and it definitely tasted much, much worse. Though the hunger forced her to completely drain its components until there was nothing left in the plastic, even going to the lengths of licking all the remnants from her hands and the corners of her mouth.

"Hyunjin?" Jinsoul asked, tentatively releasing her hold on her throat. The other woman watched curiously over the blonde's shoulder, eyes bright with intelligence as she studied her reaction.

Hyunjin opened her mouth to reply - Jinsoul's name already on her lips - when her whole body convulsed violently and she felt herself falling to the floor.

"Hyunjin! Hyunjin!" Jinsoul's voice was far away again. "Haseul! What's happening?"

"I don't know!" The woman dropped to her knees beside Jinsoul, gripping Hyunjin's limp head in her small hands. "You're the vampire, you tell me!"

"She's not meant to react like this. Hyunjin!"

Hyunjin felt herself begin to fade into unconsciousness, the pain numbing her brain completely.

What a cruel way to die, she thought.

"Hyunjin!"


	6. six

A soft breeze carried the cool temperatures of the air, washing the balmy temperatures of the summer air away from her hot skin. Above, in a clear sky with straying tufts of clouds, the sun glazed down on the vast fields of flourishing grass and crops, kissing her exposed shoulders and arms, tinting her face a faint pink. Her hair, loose and free from any bands, swayed in the gentle winds as she stood amidst the tall grass. She blinked away the light that branded her eyelids, swiftly moving her hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

In the distance she spotted a lone tree - a Chinese elm - casting shade on the dry mud it stemmed from.

Decidedly, she waded through the fresh, green field, her feet - which were adorned in flat sandals beneath the clean material of the bluish green robes she was dressed in - stepped on the fertile earth. Her robes pulled at her body as they were blocked and hindered by shoots of grass, forcing her hands to keep a hold on them as to not have them come off completely.

As she reached the shelter of the Chinese elm's shadow, she heard the faint fluttering of air above her. She traced the strong trunk of the tree, taking in the indents of each and every mark, before landing her gaze on the source of the sound. It was a small, round bird - a sparrow - with curious black eyes and playful twists of its turquoise head as it watched her inquisitively from a low branch. It opened its black beak to chirp at her, sending out a melodious sound as it continued to hop and jump on the branch of the tree, fluttering its green wings.

Gradually, her lips tugged up into an amused grin, the pleasantness of the warm summer air and the soft breeze making her feel more serene than she had ever felt before. She reached her hand up tentatively, waiting patiently for the colorful sparrow to perch on her extended finger. It blinked at her, halting its dance, and angled its head. She held her breath, letting it consider her mutual offer.

Then, it hopped from its place on the branch and spread its wings.

The turquoise of its head and stomach, and the green of its wings and back, merged and fused together, with every soft bat of its wings shifting and morphing. She blinked and soon a butterfly - appearing to be a combination of the colors on the sparrow - balanced itself on her index finger. Its wings fluttered in the same way the sparrow's had, playful and lively.

She lifted her hand up to eye-level, slowly as to not scare the butterfly away, and examined its beautiful wings.

A particularly strong gust of wind swept over the empty fields, forcing her to quickly grip onto her robes and brace herself against it. As soon as the gale was gone, she realised that the butterfly was too.

Feeling a presence behind her, she turned carefully on her heel and saw the silhouette of a girl. The sunlight shone bright behind her, lighting a halo that made her look mystical and powerful. She was dressed in similar styled robes to her, though the only difference was the gold that embroidered them and helped her keep them up on her body.

As she stepped into the shade of the tree, her appearance seemed to glimmer.

"Heejin." She breathed, watching as the said girl's pink lips curved up into a mischievous smile. Her big, brown eyes held a spirited look as she stood there, staring at her like she knew something she didn't. There was a rush of serotonin throughout her whole body, and she couldn't help but smile back at the beauty in front of her.

Treading gracefully on the grass, Heejin approached her. There was an indescribable expression on her clean, healthy face - one that she shouldn't but couldn't help compare to love. The girl came to a stop in front of her, dark hair framing her face alluringly and her chest rising and falling slowly. Her hand gently came up to cup her face, and she automatically found herself leaning into the touch, subconsciously nuzzling into the caring touch with a feeling of content present in her chest.

Although she felt Heejin shift, her hands moved to softly grip at her wrist, preventing her from moving away. She didn't want to be away from her - she wanted to be closer. They met their gazes, hers pleading and yearning, while Heejin's perceiving and surprised - as though she had just had an epiphany.

Fortunately for her, Heejin took a step closer, a warm smile on her face and her eyes hooded with love and adoration. She could almost feel her now, her warmth radiating off of her and her breath gently brushing against her own lips. She could almost kiss her: softly press their mouths together in a slow, warm kiss, to show her how much she cared for her - how long she'd loved her. Heejin rested her forehead against hers, that same puckish tug of the lips on her face as they breathed together, their chests rising and falling in sync.

Feeling her lean in, she allowed herself to close her eyes, the ghost of a pair of soft lips grazing hers before all of the warmth disappeared completely.

Her eyes shot open, desperate and confused as to why Heejin had left her.

Instead of the girl she loved, she saw someone else. Her hair was not dark and chocolate, it was golden blonde and falling in waves. Her eyes were not brown and modest, they were a bluish green and roguish. Her smile was not familiar, it was mirthful and cunning.

"What..."

The blonde girl smirked, then swiped her hand over her eyes and forced her vision to go black.

-

Hyunjin woke to the sounds of glass clinking together and the monotonous beeping of something mechanic. It made her head spin at the harsh sounds, though she couldn't help but try to push herself up from the soft surface beneath her.

"Ah! No, don't sit up." A voice called, loud and hurried.

Scrunching her face in discomfort, she took a glance at the face of the woman pushing her back against what she assumed was a bed. Her brow was pulled taut into a concerned frown, and her dark brown, mono-lid eyes - albeit a little worn with the bags and shadows under them - expressed a motherly kind of concern as she scanned her facial expression. Although healthy and round, her face held an inexplicable sense of maturity she hadn't seen on many young people - she dared to say that not even Jinsoul had this particular trait, and the woman was probably older than she could fathom. On her sharp nose were round glasses, slipping low so she'd have to look over the rim.

Pressing a warm hand to her forehead, the woman simultaneously reached for a notebook on the nightstand and began to mutter, "...temperature seems to be increasing... pupils dilated back to normal... heartbeat..." Her hand moved from her forehead to her neck, the other side of where her bite mark rested. They were quiet for a couple of seconds, Hyunjin too speechless to question who she was and the woman probably too concentrated on reading her heartbeat. "Don't hold your breath." Her eyes glared scoldingly, her tone maternal. Obediently, Hyunjin released the sigh she had been holding and watched her.

Once she returned her attention to the scrappy notebook, continuing her mutters, Hyunjin allowed her eyes to wander the unfamiliar room.

She knew that she was still in Jinsoul's house from the minimalist decor, though she would have easily mistaken it as someplace else from the bright yellow blanket draped over her body. It took her a while to recognise, but after rubbing the material under her hand in a familiar manner, she noticed that this duvet was hers.

It wasn't Jinsoul's bedroom, but judging from the way the tinted windows looked out to the obscure road they had taken to arrive at the location, she was most likely in the guest bedroom. In the corner of the room were two of her suitcases - one striped with white and yellow and the other just plain white - and another unfamiliar silver one.

"I'll have to take some of your blood." The woman's voice called softly, her eyes distractedly fluttering from the pages in the notebook to her face. When she noticed Hyunjin automatically tense up defensively, she rushed to comfort her. "Don't worry, it's only so I can run some tests - I need to make sure your fever is going down."

Hesitantly, Hyunjin allowed her arm to be moved from under the covers and placed in the woman's lap. She proceeded to apply a tourniquet on her upper arm, swiftly tugging rubber gloves onto her hands before grabbing a cotton swab and a bottle of alcohol. Her movements were measured and practiced, as if she had done this many times before. Hyunjin watched as she finished cleaning her upper forearm and pulled out a syringe from a large medical suitcase set on the nightstand.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself properly." The woman spoke suddenly, making Hyunjin tear her gaze away from the sharp needle. There was a sheepish grin on her face, as though she had just realised how rude her behaviour was. "My name is Haseul, I'm studying biology right now so you don't need to worry about me being inexperienced." She let out a quiet chuckle, her cheeks rising adorably. "Your name is Hyunjin?"

Slightly at lost for words, Hyunjin owlishly blinked. "I- Yes." She stuttered, grimacing at how scratchy her throat felt. "Kim Hyunjin, I'm a high school senior."

"Ah." Haseul nodded. "High school, huh? You'll be taking your final exams in a couple of months, right?"

Hyunjin frowned, seeming to suddenly realise that she still had an education to complete amidst all of this chaos. Would she even be allowed back into school? What good would an education do for her when she wasn't even human anymore? Could she even control herself around humans or-

She hissed at the slight pain on her arm, her eyes moving down to scrutinise the needle that had pierced itself into her arm.

"Ouch..." She mumbled, watching as the syringe filled up with the dark red liquid.

"Sorry," Haseul smiled apologetically, removing the needle carefully when she was done and quickly placing a clean cotton swab over the wound, "I know how vampires can get with sharp objects being stuck in their body. I had to distract you somehow."

Hyunjin simply scowled, allowing the woman to take her other hand and apply it over the cotton swab, telling her to "put pressure on it" while she took a test tube from her medical case. It stung a little, how easily Haseul referred to her as a 'vampire' rather than a human, though she figured she couldn't be bitter about the fact forever. Still, she had given into the monster's desires and had drank blood, which meant that there was no way back from this.

As abrupt as the needle being stuck into her arm, the door to the bedroom swung open unceremoniously. Jinsoul had her blonde hair tied up into a messy bun, out of the way of her concentrated face as she carried a tray of objects in her arms, doing her best to balance everything. There was a bottle of clear water beside a metallic thermal canister, as well as a couple of sugary and savoury snacks and what looked like several wet towels. Her lips were parted slightly in an adorable manner, her eyebrows curving expressively while her eyes remained focused on the tray.

"How is she?" Jinsoul muttered, preoccupied.

Haseul sent a quick glance over her shoulder before returning her attention to the now full test tube held between her index finger and thumb. "Healthier, if you consider the fact that she's awake." She said casually, traces of a smile on her lips.

Hyunjin watched as Jinsoul stopped in her place, whipping her head up to look back at her with widened eyes. The blonde dashed to the desk placed in the centre of the room and hastily left the tray on its surface before rushing to Hyunjin's unoccupied side. A hot hand was clumsily slapped onto her forehead, to which she scrunched her nose at and tried to swat away.

"Don't hit her now." Haseul teased, viewing the scene playing out from the corner of her eye.

Jinsoul ignored her and moved her hands to cup each side of Hyunjin's neck. "How are you?" She asked carefully, her voice soft and vulnerable like it had been that night.

Hyunjin gulped, feeling slightly awkward at the sudden change in behaviour from the woman she so stubbornly called monster. "Good." She answered, though pronounced it as if she were questioning the blonde back. Jinsoul raised her eyebrows and she let out a small huff in frustration. "Like crap."

Jinsoul's face melted into a relieved expression and she removed her hands from her neck. "You're a stubborn one, Kitten," the corners of her mouth lifted into a knowing smirk, "you don't seem like you want to meet my good friend, Death."

Glaring, Hyunjin tried to sit up. "I told you not to call me that." She hated that pet name. She didn't like how Jinsoul referred to her in an affectionate manner when she despised her so much - it made her feel slightly sick. She wasn't some helpless animal that needed to be cared for, and neither was she some pet project that Jinsoul could keep and look after as a hobby. If anything, she would rather be some sort of prisoner than a form of entertainment. Just the idea of it made the hatred in her chest swell even more. The fact that she was bedridden didn't help - she didn't want to be weak in a situation like this.

"Why not? It suits you." Jinsoul scuffed her hair.

"It really doesn't." She swatted her hand away again, sending a look to Haseul for help only to find the woman pretending to busy herself with the computer screen embedded into her medical case.

"Sure it does," Swiftly and easily, Jinsoul cupped her jaw and tugged it open, "look at these cute teeth~" Hyunjin felt her ears heat up as Haseul chuckled softly. "Your fangs aren't even extended."

Hyunjin rapidly whipped her face away from the offending hands, though she had done so too quickly. Her brain swayed largely in her skull and nausea overrode all of her senses. "Ah!" She lost her sense of balance, feeling herself falling. As she fell to the bed, she landed on her elbow, refusing to lay back down and condemn herself to her weak state. Her vision spun around wildly and she shut her eyes tightly in an effort to stop it.

"Lay down." Haseul's caring voice ordered, the light-hearted tone leaving it. Two small hands gently pushed her back against the bed while another gently guided her down so she didn't fall too quickly and be sent into another wave of nausea. Haseul hummed a lulling tune soothingly, brushing strands of hair away from her face and letting her fingers massage her temples. "It's okay, get some rest." She half-whisper, half-sang, her breathing steady like a consistent beat Hyunjin could focus on and try to mimic.

She felt Jinsoul leave her side, the bed lifting as the weight removed itself from it. It calmed her considerably, and she was able to focus on Haseul. For some reason, having a human there - who wasn't terrified of her - comforted her more than she had anticipated, even more so with the motherly way she gently brushed her fingers through her hair. Her head still pounded painfully, but it was easy to forget as she drifted back into unconsciousness.

-

As she came to again, she felt something heavy and wet draped over her forehead. It was cool on her skin, and it sent a small bead of what she presumed was water running down her face and into her hair. Although having it wet the pillow she was resting on was a slight inconvenience, she couldn't fault the way it managed to soothe the migraine kicking up a storm in her head. It was as if she were applying ice to a burn - the cool relief more satisfying than painful.

Distantly, she heard a silvery voice quietly singing out a calm tune, blending seamlessly into the loud silence of the room. It was familiar and comforting in a way she couldn't really explain - as if all of the anxiety in her body had been stripped from her and replaced with a sense of strength and assurance. Subconsciously, her hand reached out towards the voice, wanting to find the source of it and encourage it to keep singing, but instead doing the opposite and silencing it completely.

She tried peeking through her eyes, though they felt too sore and heavy to pry open. Instead, she continued to slide her hand over the familiar covers.

When a soft, hot hand slipped into hers, she found herself relaxing. Somewhere deep inside her mind - hidden behind webs of conscious thoughts and a wild concoction of memories and hallucinations - was a strange underlying fear of being left alone. It lurked there, its dark ugly figure preying on her fragile state of mind by planting worrisome thoughts that sent her into a downward spiral of 'what ifs' and 'maybes', pulling up old buried memories to prove its points. Memories of her parents rising up again, of their stern looks over quickly cooling dinners as they overlooked her grades on one hand, as well as their prideful smiles as they welcomed her back home after a successful exam. Memories of her mother easily handing her over to a stranger's possession without even so much as a hug goodbye.

Most prominently were images of Heejin: her eyes full of pity and hostility as they regarded her; her petrified face, morphing into one of hatred and disgust as she disappeared into the school building; her eager look as she looked away from her towards a dark, dimly lit dance floor before turning to face her with reluctance.

"Hyun, I'm not leaving you alone."

Those words, uttered with loyal confidence and fervor, only to be contradicted by the swift turn on the heel to leave her alone. Hyunjin had watched, conflicting emotions building within her, as Heejin took animated strides towards the crowd of moving bodies. Her back walking farther and farther away, not once taking the time to stop and glance over the shoulder - not once taking the time to rethink the decision and walk back - not once taking the time to pause her 'fun time without Hyunjin' and check up on her.

"I really want you to enjoy this."

It left a bitter feeling within her. Hyunjin had done her best to step out of her comfort zone and attend just because Heejin had asked her to - had supposedly wanted her to. Those words had replayed in her mind as sharp, feral teeth were sunk into her neck in the darkness of the same building where she was meant to 'enjoy this'. And they replayed over and over and over again in those small moments it took her to fall to her death, and for her whole being and life to irrevocably change for ever.

"You're my best friend."

Best friend... comrade, companion, ally, familiar, second self, soulmate.

"You're not just another person."

A vampire... a bloodsucker, a mistake, a monstrosity, a sanguisuge.

"You're my person."

A single, lone tear slipped out of her closed eyes. It was warm and salty and full of grief. Her throat was tight with emotions that made the hair on her body stand on end and subconsciously she found herself parting her lips to breathe better. It was like going through heartbreak over and over again: the strings tethering her heart together were snapping under the strain of the sadness and fears, and her lungs ached as they reluctantly filled with air. There were thoughts flying through her mind, but not a single one of them was caught so she allowed them to rage on, feeling the way her cheeks began to wet.

The humming returned again, this time louder than it had been before. It was shaky and uncertain and unsure but it was also that silvery, full texture that managed to entrance her. The melody was unfamiliar, something old and heartfelt, as if pulled straight from history itself. Softly, doubtful, hot fingers brushed at her cheek, wiping away the aftermath the tears had left behind.

The reminder that someone was there allowed her breaths to steady considerably, and she felt herself tighten her grip on the fingers in her palm for reassurance.

She fell back asleep to the sound of a female voice and a comforting presence beside her.

-

"You're not running any more tests - she passed out last time."

"Jinsoul, stop being ridiculous. If we don't run any tests then we won't know what's wrong with her."

"You draining the life out of her is what's wrong with her. She would be fine if you hadn't done it in the first place."

"How are you so sure? Have you seen any of the results?"

Hyunjin felt bile in the back of her throat, a feverish kind of haze washing over her as she felt herself wade to shore and into consciousness. Whatever phenomenon was happening to her body, it still had not left her and only appeared to have gotten worse with time, which was really doing wonders to both her physical and mental state. She had never been this ill - the last time she had missed a day of school was when she was fourteen and she had contracted the strong influenza epidemic going around at the time. Other than that, her immune system had kept her strong enough to not have to visit the hospital.

Until now.

"Look, she's already weak enough as it is. Why are you so eager, to test on her? Haven't you had enough of testing?"

"What are you even trying to say?"

"She is not some other little experiment you can toy around with." Hyunjin could hear the bite in Jinsoul's voice coming from her side on the bed, the hand held between her fingers tightening their grip. It was as if were protective, a concept she couldn't really understand from someone like her. "In case you forgot: vampires used to be people too - we're not just monsters you can have fun with and then throw away."

Feeling the tension thicken in the room, Hyunjin peeked through her drowsy eyelids and saw the sickened expression on Haseul's face. Her hands clenched so tightly around the fragile glass syringe that Hyunjin feared she'd break it, and it seemed as if she were restraining herself from spitting something back by tightening her jaw. Hyunjin was never very good at reading people, but anyone would be able to see the raw pain, shock and betrayal in Haseul's dark eyes, which looked distant behind the clear lens of her glasses. Whatever deeper meaning Jinsoul's words held, it seemed to have a strong effect on her - close enough for her eyes to start shimmering dangerously with tears.

"Don't look at me like that." Haseul replied lowly, her voice shaking with either anger or sadness.

Hyunjin glanced at Jinsoul and saw what the human meant. The blonde's eyes were a cobalt blue, shining with warning and precaution as she glared back at Haseul with a deep certainty in her posture. Naturally, Hyunjin shrank back in fear, flashbacks of those same blue eyes leading her to her death. Though it seemed that the human was refusing to back down from whatever silent competition they were having, and stubbornly stood her ground until Jinsoul relented and averted her gaze elsewhere.

Clearing her throat before beginning to speak, Haseul ducked her head as if in shame. "You aren't monsters." She murmured quietly, her fingers running along the side of syringe. Hyunjin felt Jinsoul's grip on her hand squeeze, though she showed no signs of acknowledgement on her face. "As much as you hate me for doing the work that I do, you know that I don't see you guys as some experiment." It was as if they were having a separate conversation at once - speaking in hidden messages between blatant words and mutual signs sent between one and the other. Haseul looked genuinely hurt by what Jinsoul had said, and Hyunjin couldn't help but feel bad for her. "Vivi isn't just an experiment to me, Jinsoul."

At that, Jinsoul looked back at Haseul, meeting her eyes again but this time without the predatory spark to it. Hyunjin watched groggily as they stared at one another, exchanging words with just a look. "Do what you want, I don't care..." Jinsoul sighed, looking almost as weary and worn as Hyunjin felt.

Haseul gave her a tight-lipped smile, bowing her head once as a 'thank you'.

As she began preparing for another blood drawing when Jinsoul finally took notice that Hyunjin was awake, shifting on the bed so she'd be closer to where her head rested and placing a hand on her forehead. "Does it hurt?" She asked carefully, eyes scanning every place on her skin to check for any signs of discomfort or pain.

Hyunjin opened her mouth to answer, but a croak came out instead of her voice and she began to cough. It was one fo those throaty coughs that came from somewhere deep in your chest, pushing out whatever filth had been accumulated in your lungs over the course of you being unwell. Just having to put the effort into racking her body forward made her wince, and she rose her hand to her mouth in an attempt to cover the spit flying out of it.

Haseul placed the syringe down and laid a hand on her shoulder to help her sit up straight, rubbing at her back comfortingly. "Jinsoul, go get the water."

Hesitating slightly, with a small glare in the other girl's direction, Jinsoul moved from Hyunjin's side and ran as fast as she could to the desk before returning with the bottle of water. Her eyebrows were curved, and even through the tears welling in Hyunjin's eyes, she could see the blonde's worry as she tried raising the bottle to her lips.

As she moved her hands to help hold the bottle, Haseul let out a small gasp.

Both her and Jinsoul moved to grasp at her wrists, revealing the palms of her hands, which were covered in that familiar crimson color. Even she was surprised at the sudden turn of events, and a tear slipped out of her eye in her effort to stop herself from coughing. It felt like something was trying to crawl out of her body, which wouldn't really surprise her considering that she felt like she was being eaten from the inside out. Though her throat felt scratchy and she had an inkling that this was all because of whatever had been in that blood she drank.

Jinsoul hurriedly tipped her chin back lightly and urged her to drink the water, some of it missing her mouth and running into her shirt. Haseul was shifting through medication in a separate bag, reading the back of boxes a mile a minute while also mumbling incoherent sentences at once.

After calming considerably, Hyunjin took the bottle in her own hands and tried to soothe the rough texture in her throat.

"What's wrong with her?" Jinsoul asked Haseul, who was panicking over comparing data on the computer and reading the packaging of the medication in her shaky hands. She looked worried, and slightly angry at the human though for what reasons, Hyunjin didn't know.

At that moment, the door to the bedroom was pushed open and a red haired woman stepped in, carrying a plastic bag in one of her hands. She looked also looked concerned, perhaps having heard the commotion before even reaching the room. "What happened?" She asked, walking over to Haseul's side of the bed and choosing to stand beside her. She placed a hand softly on the human's shoulder, and Haseul visibly relaxed at having the other girl there with her, sending her a grateful glance up at her.

"She's coughing out blood." Jinsoul deadpanned, her hand reaching out for Hyunjin's but recoiling when the latter instinctively flinched away. A look of pain crossed her face.

"What?" The red haired woman sounded perplexed as she placed the bag down beside the bedside table and looked closer at Hyunjin. "That's not supposed to happen... has she fed yet?"

Both Haseul and Jinsoul shook their heads, to which the woman frowned even more. A quick run to the desk and the metallic canister was retrieved, being handed to Hyunjin. She assumed that there was blood in there, and a small part of her wanted to take it and drink it, while her conscious continued to tell her that by drinking it she would be conforming to their life.

"Take it." She shook the canister gently, her voice stern though warm. With all three women's eyes on her, Hyunjin couldn't help but give into their desires (and her own) and weakly grasp at the bottle, feeling the warm liquid even through all the layers of insulation. Haseul was observing her very carefully, her eyes wide with caution and foreboding. "Do we know what's in her system?" The question was directed to the scientist, who blinked harshly and diverted her gaze to the inquisitor.

"I ran some tests, but there was an error." Haseul replied, turning in her place to face the computer better. The redhead leaned over her shoulder in order to see what she was explaining to her in rushed, complicated words and long, breathless sentences.

Jinsoul settled Hyunjin with a glare, silently ordering her to drink the blood despite the clear reluctance on her face. The blonde woman looked a little worse for wear - her messy bun almost dropping all the way to her shoulders now that she'd been sitting at her side for what she assumed had been a long time. It made her a little confused; why was Jinsoul so worried about her when she had been keen to kill her not so long ago? She wondered if something had changed - if something had enticed this new protective stance her creator had over her. She also wondered if this change made her uncomfortable or if she was grateful that at least someone cared about her.

With a trembling hand, Hyunjin raised the canister to her lips, her stomach clenching at the smell of the blood oozing from its insides. She had already stepped into this world - there was no turning back now.

As she slowly drank the contents - a sick feeling rising in her chest and mind contrasted with the satisfied sensation that washed over her immediately - the red haired woman straightened from her position, a pensive expression on her face. It looked as if she were conflicted over whatever was going through her mind, and the small glances she was shooting in Jinsoul's direction made her tense up.

"I think we should go to Lip."

The blonde's head snapped in her direction, her whole posture defensive and her eyes lighting up in that dangerous cobalt blue. It was as if the moment the name had been mentioned, the air in the room froze.

"As much as you may hate her, she knows more than we do. At this point, what other-"

"I told you not to mention that name again." Jinsoul's voice was deep, an animalistic growl rising from her throat as she stared daggers at the slightly nervous-looking woman. Hyunjin connected the dots in her mind, coming to a slow realisation that the woman must have been Vivi.

"Jinsoul, the child is dying." Vivi's voice sounded a tad bit desperate, though Hyunjin could tell it wasn't for her sake. There was this underlying pain present in her eyes, as if the conversation had a lot more backstory than a simple 'arch-nemesis' implication, and Hyunjin's brain just melted even more at the possibility. Why were there so many hidden meanings behind everything? "If I don't know what's going on, then you certainly don't either. Do you want her to die?"

"She is not going to die." Jinsoul stubbornly shot back, eyes gleaming with fury. "That bitch isn't getting anywhere near her - we are not turning to her for help."

"Then to who, Jinsoul?!" She was shouting now, and both Hyunjin and Haseul flinched at the drastic change in volume. There was frustration from both ends - years of it built up. "We can't go to the syndicate! They'll kill us both on the spot - hell, if not us then definitely Haseul and the child. As soon as we go to another sanguisuge, we'll be revealed and then it's game over - we have bounties on our heads, Jinsoul! Fucking bounties!"

Jinsoul shot up from her sitting position, hands clenched tightly at her sides. "We aren't turning to the devil!" There was a headache rising again in Hyunjin's mind, the volume of their voices too harsh for her sensitive ears. "You don't know her like I do!" At that statement, the blonde's voice cracked. There were a lot of pent up emotions behind the words, and no one failed to notice just how distraught Jinsoul was over this situation. "She's all laughs and smiles until you no longer serve her purpose and she drops you - she's a goddamned killer and I'd rather die than to see her fucking treacherous face again!"

Vivi was quiet for a few moments. The tension was thick enough for Hyunjin to hold her breath in anticipation of the next words. Whatever happened next had to be done in a calculated manner - one wrong move and snap. The red haired woman was aware of this, though her eyes glinted an unpredictable color. "You'd rather Hyunjin die than see her again?"

Hyunjin blinked.

The words pierced at Jinsoul quite apparently, and the blonde seemed to falter a little as they registered in her mind. Her eyes wavered, shooting Hyunjin a glance. The latter was drowsily staring back at Jinsoul, curiosity and confusion on her face as she tried to make assumptions as to what was happening around her. Nothing was making sense, and without the back story, she doubted she would ever understand anything.

"She's not going to die..." Jinsoul repeated, though this time sounding far less sure than she had. Fear shot through Hyunjin as she realised the inevitability of the situation: she was going to die.

"She's coughing out blood, Jinsoul." Vivi stressed, voice wavering. "She's dying."

Jinsoul's blinked and her eyes simultaneously returned to their normal brown color, realisation reluctantly striking her round the head. The sequence of emotions that flashed through her face were ones that Hyunjin had never seen portrayed before: pure and painful defeat, boiling resentment at the situation and herself, and a chilling look of complete and utter devastation and desperation.

Promptly, the woman turned on her heel and left the room.

Hyunjin stared after her retreating figure, a sense of pity for the monster building in her chest.


	7. seven

Having Haseul gently scrape her nails against her scalp as she leaned her head in the crook of her neck made her miss her mother in an inexplicable way.

It made her remember when she was still a seven year old girl, with expectations set to a reasonable standard and words of encouragement expressed daily, when her mother would take her into her lap and squeeze the life out of her in a loving embrace. She would squirm and whine as much as she could, but deep down they both knew that there was no place she would rather be. And sometimes, when she had finished all of her homework and grown bored of playing by herself in her room, she'd wander into the kitchen and watch her mother cook, until eventually she was accused of 'supporting slavery' and be guilt-tripped into helping prepare that night's dinner. Despite how much she'd complain later to her friends at school, she couldn't deny the fact that those recipes remained ingrained in her mind, even when she found herself on the brink of death.

A sense of yearning for home had lodged itself within her, and the only thing that could somewhat fill that small yet significant gap in her chest was the familiar warmth of Haseul's human body and the steady beating of her heart through her falling and rising chest. Haseul reminded her of home - of breakfasts in yellow-sunlit kitchens during the days where summer seeped into autumn; of the content daze inflicted by warmth trapped under strewn layers of blankets on a cold winter morning; of cool breezes carrying the spring perfume on a bright sunny day.

Hyunjin whimpered when she felt the onslaught of coughs building in her chest, tired of hacking and croaking when all she wanted to do was share in the warmth that was so openly offered to her.

"Shh..." Haseul nudged the top of her head with her chin as she tried to look down at her face, her fingers halting their massage for a second. Her body was tense, prepared to go full 'doctor-mode'. "Vivi, how much longer?"

From the front seat, the red haired woman shot a panicked glance at the rear view mirror before setting her eyes on the congested roads. "We have fifteen - I mean, seven to ten minutes left." Her voice was calm and steady, though the way her hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel and occasionally cursed in a foreign language, betrayed her true emotions. The next couple of words were mumbled, but both girls at the back heard clearly. "Of course they live on opposite sides of the city, pusillum..."

Being far away from Jinsoul for the first time felt... weird. She didn't actively miss her presence - there was no reason for her to: they hadn't exactly developed any sort of bond and had barely had time to grow attached to each other with all the 'she's the monster that turned me into a monster' conflict, but at the same time, Hyunjin felt herself missing the blonde like a newborn missing their mother. It was most likely safe to assume that this was the sanguisuge part of her - that primal nature instinct to be with a parent (in her case, her creator), though diminishing such a sensitive, humane emotion to something so little made her feel worse than she would have thought.

It had taken Hyunjin crying from the pain in her chest for Jinsoul to give in and let this 'Lip' person help out. The blonde had stubbornly stood her ground and done her best to do whatever she could to relieve Hyunjin of the pain. That included staying beside her every hour of the day and every hour of the night in order to tend to her every need, all whilst avoiding the desperate, concerned looks from both Vivi and Haseul. Eventually, she'd taken in the ghastly grey tint to Hyunjin's sick skin and had let her resolve crumble (Hyunjin thought she'd seen tears lining her eyes, but someone like Jinsoul wouldn't show such display of weakness).

As soon as Jinsoul had relented, Vivi visibly deflated and Haseul almost looked like she was about to cry from relief. Vivi told Haseul to start her car parked in the garage while they helped move Hyunjin down, Jinsoul herself carrying her to the car in her arms. She was doing her best to move as quickly as possible but also as carefully as she could so she didn't jolt her too violently, and the little part of her that felt some kind of pity towards the blonde was grateful for it.

"As soon as I feel something is wrong," Jinsoul had said quietly as to not disturb the sick girl, "I am going down there and I am killing her."

Vivi, following after the blonde with several of Hyunjin's clothes in her arms, had made and indignant sound in the back of her throat. "What, you're not coming with us?"

Hyunjin had clearly underestimated just how much Jinsoul hated her archnemesis - or maybe she overestimated how much she cared about her - because she had let out a small scoff. "The only reason - only reason - why this is happening is because of me - I failed my duty. Again. I'm not letting this mess up more than it has already... Hyunjin doesn't deserve any of this." Her grip on her had tightened in the small pause. "But that does not mean that I have to associate myself with that symphalian. Like I said, I'd rather die than see her again."

"Okay, but-" Vivi sounded very bothered by it all, like the blonde was speaking another language. "You know that seperation from the creator so early on means that a bond isn't built. You won't be able to feel what she's feeling, or hear what she's thinking, or-"

"I don't have a choice." Jinsoul reiterated. They had reached the garage, Vivi's expensive car already illuminating the room harshly with its headlights. This was the most light Hyunjin had been exposed to in days, and it was doing a couple of numbers on her head. Jinsoul went to the opened door Haseul held for them and as gently as possible, she lowered Hyunjin into the leather seats at the back with the help of Haseul, who made sure her head didn't uselessly flop against the back seat and send her into another wave of nausea.

"Yes, you do." Vivi insisted. "You come with us. You can watch over Hyunjin yourself and make sure that Lip doesn't do anything to her. You can still keep your bond."

"Viian."

The silence that had followed was both full and empty.

"Please." Hyunjin could hear the lump in Jinsoul's throat as she spoke, her voice trembling in the most humane way possible, "Viian please don't make me do this. I know you probably think I'm stupid and immature and that same idiot I was a couple of years ago- but please - I'm begging you - don't bring her up ever again after this."

Vivi had looked conflicted, but had relented and proceeded to move to the driver's seat while Haseul slid into the space beside Hyunjin, who had an uncomfortable feeling in her chest at hearing Jinsoul sound so broken. As much as she told herself that Jinsoul was the reason this had all happened, she couldn't help but feel the pain that she was going through with this. She didn't want to, but she found herself relating to her in the weirdest way, and the twinge of pity that ran through her allowed for a moment of weakness and all of a sudden thoughts like, 'maybe Jinsoul isn't so bad after all' or 'she's just as broken as you are' were running through her head.

Whoever this 'Lip' was, she seemed to have a very big (perhaps 'very big' being an understatement) effect on Jinsoul, someone who she had considered the most intimidating person she had ever met. What she gathered from conversations spoken through floors and closed arguments was the following: Lip was currently in custody of someone called 'Choerry', who Hyunjin assumed was someone very important to Jinsoul and someone who had gone through a situation similar to hers, and had been taking care of her as a replacement of the blonde. This could be the reason why Jinsoul hated the idea of Hyunjin going to Lip - this was her second sanguisuge being taken from her by the same person. She also knew that Lip was a different species, though if she was a demon or something else, Hyunjin couldn't confirm (Jinsoul had called her a variation of things, so choosing from one was too difficult). Though how she would know more about this situation than two sanguisuges put together - that was something she'd have to find out.

"Oh my god..." Haseul let out a breath of disbelief, all movements halting at once. "Is that it?"

Hyunjin struggled to move from her position, Haseul too stunned to try and stop her at all, looking at whatever was outside.

If she had thought Jinsoul's house was big, then this was monumental. The building - in contrast to the whole minimalist theme the blonde had going on - was old in a historical manner, where countless of previous generations had inhabited the building and had left their own little touch to the bygone house. Strangely enough, the large marble columns supporting the structure were startingly clean, as if they had been expecting guests, and to be totally honest Hyunjin didn't know how to feel about that. There wildflowers climbing up the side of the large mansion, though rather than giving the dirty, abandoned feel if let free to grow wherever, they only added to the character of the mansion: ancient, powerful, supreme. Hyunjin's best guess was that there were four storeys, lined with antiquely designed windows and balconies over looking the gravel path leading up to the entrance.

"Where are we?" Haseul asked for her, sounding a little star struck and scared.

Vivi sighed heavily, pulling up as close as possible to the grandesque marble porch. "This is the Kim Estate." Not bothering to elaborate further, she quickly unlocked the door and pushed it open, her feet crunching loudly on the gravel in her rush to get out. Hyunjin realised that the whole time, she hadn't been wearing a seat belt, and she wasn't sure whether to question the woman's sanity or if this was a normal occurrence. "Give me a second."

"Wait, Vivi..." Haseul struggled with unbuckling her seat belt, accidentally jolting Hyunjin in the process. Hearing the girl groan, she immediately halted her movements and turned to face her, cupping her face and gently patting her cheek to get her to reopen her eyes. "Ugh, why does she always do this to me..." She mumbled under her breath as she glanced repeatedly from where the red haired woman had jogged up to the royal double doors to Hyunjin's drowsy face. "It's okay, Hyunjin. Everything's gonna be okay. Just try to keep your eyes open for me, is that okay?" She gave a hesitant smile, eyes softening when Hyunjin made the effort to smile back.

Her, "what's going on" came out like "wabfughen" through numb, bloodied lips, and Haseul instantly frowned with worry.

Before either of them could process much, a loud, boisterous voice shot through the silence.

"Oh giddy! New friends!" Hyunjin angled her head towards it, finding that a girl had pulled the car door open for them and was standing there with a bright grin on her face. With everything that had happened this far, she honestly wasn't surprised to find yet another beautiful young woman dressed in an oversized, white, frilly shirt that looked like it came out of the nineteenth century, paired with luxurious jewellery and simple black trousers. What did surprise her was the complete lack of color in her eyes, all except for the red circling her left eye. "Welcome to my humble abode!"

-

Hyunjin would have loved to see the inside of the expensive mansion had she been in a more... lively state, but as soon as Vivi had taken her in her arms she was out cold. The next time she woke up, she was in a large, barren room laying on a single bed with white sheets. A glass chandelier hung from the tall ceilings, intricate designs carved into the stone used to build the room with such precise detail that it was surely hand-crafted, and the windows allowed for the sunlight to fall into the room as not to use any electricity. It gave the vibe of a holy place - maybe even the inside of an old Victorian castle.

Haseul crouched at her side, rubbing her hand on her forehead absently as Vivi spoke to the woman. "...don't know what's happening to her; she started coughing out blood two days ago." The woman's face was neutral, no expressions and no emotions. "She drank some dark blood Haseul got from a blood donor that day, but she didn't run any tests so we're not sure what was in it. We don't even know who the blood donor was..."

Humming a tune a little too happy for the situation, the woman just nodded and glided her way over to where Hyunjin lay.

There was a certain aura to her that made her odd - out of place, like she wasn't really meant to be there on this earth with the rest of them. It didn't stop her beauty from shining through, though, with her features perfectly sculpted and her eyes dark and mysterious in a way that made you more curious rather than scared. Ethereal would be the closest word to describe her appearance, but associating her with something heavenly and pure felt... wrong. No, her appearance was more of a temptation - one to ruse a reaction to get you to follow her willingly into the pits of hell without you even batting an eye. It reminded her of Jinsoul, but at the same time, felt very distinct. Jinsoul gave off a cold, icy kind of beauty akin to royalty, demanding that you stop whatever it was that you were doing and worship her factions at that very moment. This woman was... hot, but in a scalding sort of manner; the promises of so much more behind small smirks and dark, haunting looks that piqued your interest enough for you to become entranced, trying to find what it was.

On that same face, the corners of plump lips tugged up into a half-smile, half-scowl. It sent a shiver running down Hyunjin's spine, images of her greatest fears playing out like a movie tape in those obsidian eyes.

"So this is the new play toy Yerim was telling me about." Her voice was mirthful, as if she were entertained by it all.

'Yerim'. Hyunjin had heard that name before. She had heard it being said somewhere and just having it running over and over again in her head like broken tape made her confusion increase. Where had she heard that name before? Why did she get the feeling like it was important?

"I shouldn't have trusted her words so easily," The woman chuckled to herself, a graceful hand moving to touch her face. Warmth spread from where the tips of her fingers touched her hairline, and she found her headache dulling into a small, tiny roar. Haseul appeared to be doing her best not to show any type of thought on her face, though Hyunjin didn't miss the way her eyes warily glanced between her and and the sick girl, as if prepared to protect her from whatever danger the unfamiliar figure posed. "You don't look like a bug-eyed Betty at all."

Despite herself, Hyunjin frowned at the expression. What did that mean? And who was Yerim to the woman if she knew her? There was a mild sense of panic in her chest and in her head, her heart pounding quickly against her rib cage as the woman ran her eyes down her body and then back up again.

"No, not at all..." She repeated, her smirk growing into something... evil. The fact that her eyes looked bottomless didn't help the woman's case, and she could feel Haseul tense at her side in obvious discomfort. The woman angled her head to look over her shoulder at Vivi, who stood at the bottom of the bed with a light frown on her face. "Jinsol doesn't seem to have changed, has she?"

The question visibly shocked Vivi, as she stared back at the woman with an unreadable look. "No, she's still the same as she was when she lost Choerry." She replied steadily, settling Haseul with a look of warning when she saw that the human was about to speak. Hyunjin groggily blinked her sore eyes and desperately listened out to the conversation.

"I'm not talking about Yerim, Viian." The woman said lightly, an emotionless smile on her face. "You're thinking of the 20s, try going back to the year of '33. A cold winter that year - you know the snow fell on that day."

Hyunjin's head spun. First, Choerry was Yerim, which meant that she had possibly met Jinsoul's previous sanguisuge before if her suspicions about knowing anything at all about her were correct. The mere possibility made her feel a daunting sense of sonder; the world was much smaller than she originally thought it was. Another thing was the years: if Choerry (or Yerim) was viewed as young (judging by the way they had spoken about her) and she was possibly turned back in the 1920s, then what did that mean for her? Also, how could you go back to 1933 from the 1920s? That was unless they were actually talking about 1833, which meant that they were all much older than she had anticipated.

"Here we are, almost two hundred years later, and Jinsol hasn't changed a thing." This was the first hints of emotion in the woman's voice, something along the lines of wistful nostalgia and irritation.

At this point, Hyunjin's slow mind could piece everything together and come to a realisation that this was the infamous 'Lip'. With the way Jinsoul had talked about her, she had expected someone uglier, and meaner, and perhaps a little more evil. But the woman looked rather small in stature, and her face was round and soft in a youthful manner, and the only evil in her was the darkness in her eyes when she looked at her.

Vivi, despite having been on the defense whenever they talked about Lip with Jinsoul, seemed relaxed. This was probably a reoccurring topic of conversation, or perhaps Lip didn't have the same amount of disdain for the woman as she had for her. "She said she didn't mean for it to happen."

Lip raised her eyebrows, though her surprise didn't seem quite genuine. "She never 'means for it to happen', yet Yerim is still here. Living with me." There was that irritation again, seeping into her voice more obviously. "Though I know why she did it this time." The dark, black look was settled on Hyunjin, who struggled to stay conscious. "I know why she chose you."

"Jungeun, I know how this looks, but can you please help her?" Vivi spoke up at the glare Haseul sent her way, the two were exchanging silent words while the woman studied Hyunjin with her unreadable gaze. "She's innocent, she was just caught in the crossfire."

Lip - or Jungeun - merely smiled. Her eyes morphed into a brown sort of color, something more humane and innocent than the devilish eyes that had been intensely staring at her, though she wasn't sure if that made the situation any better. It was impossible to decipher whatever motives were hidden behind her face, and that only terrified Hyunjin even more. The silence in the room was chilling, thick with tension as if they were waiting for something to happen. Waiting for Hyunjin to react or waiting for Jungeun to add to respond to Vivi's statement. It only made Hyunjin's heart pound faster in her chest.

"Don't worry your pretty little head over it," Jungeun genuinely looked vaguely entertained, and it terrified Hyunjin to the core. "I've already done my work."

And Hyunjin's heart was beating fast, making her chest heave up and down with labored breaths trying to keep up with the pace, and Haseul was at her side whispering soothing words and hurriedly asking what she'd done to her, and maybe Hyunjin's heart was beating a little too fast.

She took her last breath, clean and fresh, and then everything went black.

-

She was there again: in the vast green fields with long grass and crops of newborn wheat, the breeze softly carrying that grassy smell mixed with the scent of blooming flowers and that strange aroma of sunshine falling on the earth. Her robes remained the same color, loosely hanging off her frame and exposing healthy clean skin to the warm light of the sun that gently kissed at her shoulders and warmed her cheeks. It felt good to have her hair free, swaying gently in the breath of the summer air and brushing against her exposed back and collarbones. She felt alive.

The Chinese elm continued to stand in its lonesome, though this time the dark branches had bloomed beautiful small white flowers, some of the petals tugging from their place and scattering across the empty land. It was familiar in a way she couldn't describe, because she'd only been here once before, but it calmed all of the turmoil and thoughts in her mind and she suddenly couldn't remember what she was doing there. The tree looked sturdy and strong and it called for her, beckoning her closer with its long branches and celebrating with a soft hum as the wind winded itself between spaces in its leaves. It was as if it had a life of its own - an old spirit comfortingly welcoming her into its shade.

Underfoot, the soil was soft. It gave way under her flat sandals, letting her sink slightly into the ground as she wandered around the tree, checking for any anomalies from last time. Everything was the same - all except for one thing.

"Hello."

She turned, a smile already on her face as if printed there by mechanism. How she knew who it was before the voice greeted her was unbeknown to her, though the silly worries were wiped from her mind as she laid her eyes upon her love.

Heejin was there, with the gold embroidering her green robes at her waist and hugging her neck to hold the dress up. She looked as beautiful as she remembered her, with her glossy hair shining under the lines of sunlight that glimmered through small gaps and her eyes warm like the fireplace she put in her heart, making herself at home. The feelings were familiar. They put butterflies in her stomach and happiness in her body.

"Heejin." She breathed, sighing her name out like it was relieving her from pain. Her love was here, in her presence, after so long. Watching the girl step closer to her was alleviating her of whatever pressure had created itself in her chest when she realised that she was here, and she impatiently reached out to touch - to hold.

Smiling that all to knowing smile, Heejin easily slipped her small hand into hers and interlaced their fingers, the feel of her skin against hers far too familiar yet all too familiar. Memories of intertwining hands through crowded hallways or fleeting tucks of hair behind the ear in cold morning classrooms played in her mind like a movie, waves of nostalgia washing through her as she took in the subject of her admiration. It all seemed too surreal - like it was too good to be true.

There was something about the way Heejin looked at her: a kind of unfamiliar, but eager look. It confused Hyunjin.

"What are you doing here, love?" Heejin's voice was still deep, still as entrancing and still as blush-inducing as she remembered.

'Love'. A dumb grin spread across Hyunjin's face and she allowed herself to be tugged closer, her steps faltering a little and sending specks of dirt skittering.

What was she doing here? Why was she dressed in these clothes? Where had she come from?

"I don't remember..." Hyunjin hadn't even realised there was a frown on her face until Heejin's soft thumb was delicately brushing it away, soothing it back to its neutral state and her hand lightly dragged down her face to hold her neck. Her eyes closed, drowsy from the gentle manner she was being handled with and content with the company she was in. A series of jumbled, incoherent thoughts flew through her mind and suddenly the words were escaping her mouth. "What about you? What are you doing here?"

All movements stilled, and the breeze seemed to halt along with it. Hyunjin warily eyed the girl in front of her.

For a moment, she thought her eyes were deceiving her, because Heejin's image had flickered - as if a signal struggling to come through with the bad connection - and her dark hair was no longer dark, but a golden shade, and her eyes were no longer brown, but a shocking turquoise.

She blinked, and Heejin was still standing in front of her.

Opening her mouth to say something, Hyunjin felt herself come up short and suddenly she couldn't remember what they had been talking about.

"What's wrong, love?" Heejin frowned a little, her eyebrows tugging together in that cute manner and her lower lip tucking out in a pout. Hyunjin was smitten. "You look sad."

Did she? She hadn't noticed. Why was she sad if she had everything she ever wanted and needed standing right there in front of her? Hadn't she been waiting to hold her hand ever since she had last seen her? Hadn't she yearned to have her affection reciprocated by the girl she thought had been so unreachable? Why would she be sad?

Another string of thoughts, too quick to catch, passed through her mind.

When had she last seen Heejin?

"Tell me what's wrong." Heejin smiled sweetly, the words sending a spark of familiarity through her and numbing her mind for a second. This was how Heejin always got her to talk, this was how she always comforted her whenever she was upset, this was their little signal. This was okay. Everything was okay.

Hyunjin moved to reply, but something stopped her. A freezing, cold, chilling realisation running its fingertips up her spine.

"Talk to me."

Heejin's voice played in her mind, far clearer than that of the words that had escaped the physical form in front of her, staring at her with a calm look. Though it wasn't really calm - Hyunjin could sense the unrest oozing off of the other girl in front of her; the way her eyes clouded with colored trouble. There was something about the way her look of serenity was displayed on her face, and Hyunjin couldn't believe she hadn't realised it before.

Her voice was sweet and gentle, with the usual patience she always addressed her with. It was comforting. Familiar.

The flickering image was there once more, though this time Hyunjin was sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Heejin's image, beautiful as always, morphed into someone else - something else.

Her stature was smaller - small enough for Hyunjin to have to fix the angle of her chin and look downwards to see the new image. Golden blonde locks cascading down small, pale shoulders in waves far too perfect to be natural. A bittersweet tug to the curved, reddish lips that looked too unfamiliar to be her best friend. A powerful, intimidating aura strong enough to parallel that of Jungeun's. The tug of the perfectly carved eyebrow in a look of amusement and mild annoyance. Turquoise, round eyes settling her with a look of... was that disdain?

"Who are you?" Hyunjin's voice shook as she took a step away from the girl in front of her, snatching her hand back from her grasp.

The blonde giggled breathily, her high voice a drastic change from Heejin's deep one. "I had fun." Hyunjin didn't know what kind of facial expression she was making, but she was sure it was either horror or confusion. Maybe a mixture of both. "You're a fun sport, love."

Hyunjin felt her own facial features convulse, bile rising in the back of her throat. "Don't call me that." She growled. This whole thing was sick. She was mortified, betrayed, angry at whoever this girl thought she was.

"Then what should I call you?" A dark grin spread across the girl's face, and suddenly Hyunjin was pinned against the Chinese elm by the neck, sharp fingernails digging into the sides and the pressure cutting her airway. The turquoise should have looked pleasant and appealing to look at, but the longer Hyunjin stared into it, the more terrified she grew of it. Giggling to herself, the blonde loosened her grip on her and tilted her head. "We'll meet soon. Then I'll know."

-

Hyunjin felt herself levitate from the bed she had been lying on.

She somehow flew a few feet into the air and was thrown a distance across the room, the velocity making the air rushing around her ears whistle. Quickly, as if anticipating it all, she crouched her legs and let her bare feet slide across the smooth marble surface, her hands grazing the floor to stablise herself if she lost her balance in the process of landing.

Her breaths were heavy and labored, as if she had just reemerged from a stay too long underwater, and she felt her nose prickle as she greedily gulped in the air into her lungs. The shirt she had been wearing was now plastered to her body all due to the sweat, strands of her hair sticking to her skin at her forehead and the back of her neck uncomfortably. Whatever weak feeling or dizzying sensation that had taking over her life in the past couple of days had miraculously disappeared, and it was replaced with this strange, strong sense of invincibility.

The first thing she saw when her yellow vision settled was the familiar lithe figure and blonde hair.

"Bože." Vivi's voice reached her ears first, and a cacophony of sound struck her senses at once.

Jinsoul was growling something in another language, her back faced towards her as her hand tightly gripped onto Jungeun's neck and drained all of the life out of the latter's otherwise limp body. She could feel the wrath and fury exuding from her tense posture and her likely cobalt eyes, her creator's emotions registering in her brain as if it were something normal. In her deadly grip was a bloodied and battered Jungeun, who had crimson trickling from a scratch on her left cheekbone and a split lip as she senselessly grinned back at the attacker. Though appearing to be injured, her black eyes stared back at Jinsoul through hooded eyelids, all too nonchalant in nature as she allowed the blonde to raise her hand at her without as much as flinching. She didn't appear too bothered by the ordeal.

Hyunjin stretched her limbs, glad for the curious strength that had founded itself within her. She felt refreshed, new.

"If you really wanted to, you would have done it by now." Jungeun spoke through a choked voice, obviously hindered by the tight grip Jinsoul had on her throat. The end of her sentence squeaked into nothing as the blonde only gripped stronger.

On the other side of the room was Vivi, staring at her with wide eyes. Behind her was Haseul, who looked far too terrified to be there with everything else going on at once.

"Shut up!" Jinsoul screamed, her voice tearing through her vocal cords and her hand coming down to strike at her victim.

Everything else happened slowly.

As if by some other influence, something else piloting her brain, Hyunjin moved across the room in light, easy steps. She saw Jungeun's obsidian, demonic eyes change to the humane brown they had earlier, fear and wretchedness uprooted from somewhere deep within her. She saw Jinsoul's cobalt eyes piercing and heart-stopping, shining with bloody tears that left ugly streaks down her pained face. Jinsoul's hand was directed exactly where it would hurt - at Jungeun's heart.

Just as Jinsoul's hand was about to stab through the demon's chest, it stopped.

Her cobalt eyes widened simultaneously with Jungeun's brown eyes, shocked at the sudden turn of events. They both looked at each other, the shock too much to show whatever hatred they held for each other in those few seconds, before they settled their gazes on Hyunjin.

Hyunjin, whose hand impeded Jinsoul from taking another life.

Hyunjin, whose bright yellow eyes shone powerfully.

Hyunjin, whose face crumbled into confusion and surprise.

"No more." Her voice trembled, unsure but a sensesation telling her that it had to be said pushing the words out of her anyway.

The silence in the room could have deafened them all, not a single breath leaving any of their mouths. Jinsoul's eyes slowly changed from their sharp blue back into their dark brown, her grip subconsciously loosening on Jungeun and allowing the demon to place her feet back on the floor. The latter did not appear concerned over her injuries, more entranced with studying Hyunjin's face.

"Dovraga," Jungeun rasped, fear seeping into her eyes, "what have you become?"


	8. eight

"Let her go!" Haseul shouted after them, her voice sounding panicked and scared at once.

Hyunjin felt a wave of protectiveness swell inside of her as she glanced back at the small human, her brows tugged together and her arms swinging as fast as she could to keep up with them. Over the past couple of days, where she had thought she would have died a million times over and would do it alone without ever getting to say goodbye to her family, Haseul had been by her side and had cared for her even when she was in her lowest point in life. They hadn't even met before any of this happened - Haseul had just willingly and selflessly put time she could have spent doing whatever it was she did in her spare time into taking care of her as if they had known one another all their lives. They had met after Hyunjin had been turned into a sanguisuge - a monster, as she thought of it in her mind - so having a human accept her for this new side of her she hated so much was the most validating and touching feeling in the world, and losing that one person who seemed to care about her well-being unconditionally would make her lose it.

The gravel crunched underneath their feet, and Hyunjin grimaced as the small stones dug into her skin. Jinsoul wouldn't loosen her grip on her wrist, however, neither would she bother looking back at the two girls nor at the slowly distancing mansion.

"Jinsoul! You can't do this!" Haseul was persistent, and by the way Jinsoul tightened her hand around Hyunjin it seemed like the latter didn't appreciate it very much. Still, Hyunjin gave her credit, and only found the respect that had formed for the older woman over their time spent together to grow.

Jinsoul was not saying a word, and Hyunjin feared this sudden quietness more than when she had glared at her with her paralyzing blue eyes and bared fangs. She had learnt from her parents that a silent anger meant that it was much, much worse than being shouted at with harsh words and being told things directly, because no one could read what was going on through the person's mind in those moments. Hyunjin knew better than to try wrenching her wrist away from her creator, who had haunting red trails smeared on her cheeks from the bloody tears she had cried. She was smarter than that.

In the distance, at the iron gates at the end of the long driveway, was Jinsoul's luxurious black car parked right in the centre, blocking the pathway from any other vehicles. It reminded Hyunjin of a dark horse, waiting for the arrival of its master to set off far away from the danger.

"Jinsoul, she might not have recovered yet!" Haseul's voice shook as she took deep breaths, her steps increasing their pace to get nearer. "She had a strange reaction to whatever Lip did to her-" Jinsoul sped up. "-and it could affect her health. Please, let me at least run some tests on her and then I'll let her-"

Hyunjin's chest bumped into Jinsoul's shoulder and it knocked the breath out of her. "That's enough." Jinsoul's voice was cold, and it matched the glint in her dark eyes as she levelled the human with a glare. Outrage filled Hyunjin and she felt the inexplicable need to step between the two and put an end to whatever tension was beginning to boil - she didn't know who she wanted to protect from the other, but something told her that she had to do something. "I've had enough with you and all your 'testing' and experimenting." The expression on Jinsoul's face was easy to decipher: there was an obvious aim to sting and to hurt with the words she was spitting out. Hyunjin tensed in her place, suddenly very aware of each and every stone digging into her feet and aware of Haseul freezing as the words cut through the thin air. This was a sensitive topic, Hyunjin remembered because she'd overheard them arguing about something similar to this before. "All your bullshit blood tests and research and results and tell me - Haseul - tell me one successful finding of yours and then maybe - maybe - I'll think about it."

Tears built up in Haseul's eyes, clear and stubborn as they clung to the edges of her eyes, refusing to fall down her taut face. Hyunjin's humane side reacted violently at seeing such an intelligent, selfless person be diminished of their actions and attempts at help in such a brutal manner, and she just wanted to rip her wrist out of Jinsoul's hand and hit some sense into her and her stupid, vampire head. The frustration and hurt was evident in the way Haseul's knuckles turned white at her side, her jaw setting firmly as she ground her teeth together and she momentarily stopped breathing, as if the air were too bitter for her lungs. Hyunjin could hear her heartbeat racing away in her chest, and all she wanted to do was approach her and give back the care and affection she had received from her.

"I thought so." Jinsoul said, plain and simple, and that was much worse than a snarl or a growl. She looked eerily calm now, as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown on her and completely wiped her of any of the emotions or pain she had clearly been experiencing.

Hyunjin frowned as she was tugged away again, and Haseul didn't follow this time, her feet planted firmly onto the ground. She stared into her eyes pleadingly, begging her to see that whatever Jinsoul had said wasn't true and that the blonde probably didn't even mean it anyway. Of course, Haseul - kind and strong and fierce Haseul - shot her a smile - a weak smile, but a smile either way - and gently nodded at her, as if telling her to go with Jinsoul willingly.

That struck her heart harder than she ever wanted it to, and Hyunjin could feel the emotions lodging themselves in her throat as she nodded back in agreement to her, allowing her creator to gently nudge her into the passenger seat. She couldn't help the sympathy she felt for both girls (even Jinsoul, who she still couldn't fully learn to accept). The situation was a tough one, and she couldn't really blame either of them for their faults - she just wished that things could be more different than what they were now.

A thought crossed her mind in that moment and she wondered to herself: would the three of them be friends if they had met in another life? Where none of them were plagued with the burden of being monsters and where they all got to know each other normally? Hyunjin quietly observed Jinsoul's blank face as the latter did her seatbelt up for her, seeing as she hadn't moved to do so herself. She noticed, just barely, that she had a scar in between her eyebrows, closer to the left side of her face. What was the story behind that? Would she ever get to know through a normal conversation with the other girl or would she have to find out more about her through over-heard conversations and passing comments?

Even if Jinsoul hid it well, Hyunjin could tell that her heart ached and her insides were burning and toiling within her right now, and she knew one of the main reasons why she had allowed Jinsoul to take her away from the Kim Estate. Why she didn't flinch away when Jinsoul analysed her face to see if she had been hurt, or why she refrained from making a comment when her hair was scuffed and the passenger door was closed with a sense of finality.

Jinsoul was just like her.

-

After washing her hair from the sweat and grime, and reluctantly drinking the animal blood Jinsoul had handed her in a bottle, she had felt tired. Though not tired where she wanted to put her head down on a pillow and let herself sink into a mattress, but more of an exhaustion that hung on her mind and slowed each and every one of her thoughts. Which was incredibly frustrating after the events that had occurred just a series of hours ago.

Jinsoul had checked up on her physical appearance: had checked every inch of skin that Hyunjin allowed her to see (she hadn't tried to force her into showing her everything, though Hyunjin noticed that she was a little antsy at possible wounds being located somewhere she hadn't laid her eyes on); she checked her eyes and if they opened and closed properly (in the process teaching her how to control the yellow filter that previously decided to flip on and off against her will); she pressed her fingers against particularly dark looking skin, worried that there would be internal bleeding found there and occasionally glancing at her face just to see if she was hiding her pain from her.

She proceeded to ask if she had remembered anything from her time at the Kim Estate (not that Jinsoul had actually referred to the place by its name, preferring to call it 'the hell house'), her nonchalance in her voice not enough to mask the way her obvious intrigue forced her fingers to stumble over the bathroom counter. Hyunjin had done her best to recount her time spent there, though admittedly avoiding mentioning anything to do with Jungeun. She thought she was able to be set free when Jinsoul had stopped her and pressed again, asking once more if something else had happened.

Flashbacks of the vision she'd had came rushing into her mind but she immediately pushed them away, unwilling to face the mortification and embarrassment again. Hesitantly, she considered telling the blonde about it, just to see if she would know anything to do about the strange girl that had appeared there or why she was having those dreams, but she had seen the way Jinsoul dazedly stared at nothing in particular, absorbed in her own thoughts and emotions, and had decided against it.

Hyunjin felt very peculiar throughout the whole thing, the silence between them just making the whole situation even more... awkward than it already was.

Fortunately, Jinsoul had washed her face as soon as they had gotten home - and had prepared a bath for her to bathe in while she was at it - so the blood trails on her cheeks had been erased and she no longer looked like a terrifying woman from a horror movie. Hyunjin still felt wary around her, though, eyeing the way she coldly told her where all the necessities were in the bathroom and flinching when she moved a little too hastily.

It felt weird to have the blonde caring for her - unlike the way it had seemed so natural coming from Haseul - but she decided not to mention anything about it. The blonde had been nice to her so far, and ever since she had asked if she had wanted to die the first time they had met, she hadn't really tried hinting at any signs of aggression or foreshadowing her death. Which, coming from the vampire that bit her and turned her into another vampire, was nice in itself.

The moon shone brightly in the dark blue skies, constellations splattered majestically on its canvas and the passing aeroplane winking its white and red and green lights at her as it sailed through the night.

Hyunjin hadn't wanted to be in the room she associated with her death bed - despite the familiar, comforting yellow duvet strewn over the monochromatic colorscheme that added a bit of her personality into the room. She was unfamiliar with the structure of the house, so she had decided to allow herself to take a tour, seeing as Jinsoul had disappeared off to another one of the rooms.

The top floor only had two rooms (Jinsoul's and a guestroom) and a shared bathroom, which Hyunjin had used to finally wash herself after so long. She found that the bathroom - large and luxurious, like everything else the blonde owned - was strangely comforting with its orange, warm lights and welcoming ambience as she sat in the spacious bathtub.

The second floor was technically the main floor, where open-kitchen linked into the living room with tall ceilings and an expensive, modern glass chandelier hanging from the plain white ceilings (it reminded Hyunjin of that studio she had taken interest in when Heejin had suggested moving in together when they went to university, and how it had only been one, singular room and a bathroom, and the memory sent her into a dark mood). The aquarium cast its neon lights across the dark mahogany floorboards, drawing her to it like a cat to a laser light, and it took her a while to locate the lonely fish that Jinsoul kept in its confinements. She wasn't very aware of marine life, so her not recognising what type it was made her feel slightly better. Only it didn't explain why one, lone fish would have so much space to itself.

On that same floor was the garage, which stored Jinsoul's signature car and what Hyunjin had presumed to be a motorbike, only it had been covered with a grey fabric and there had been a thin layer of dust formed there, as if it hadn't been touched in a long time. A casual room with a study desk and walls lined with bookshelves had drawn her attention, old writing spilling from the shelves and books having to migrate onto the love seat strewn with papers and notebooks. Hyunjin hadn't dared to push the door open any further as soon as she had taken notice to a painting on the desk that was unlike the rest of the art in the house, having a feeling that she wasn't meant to know of its existence.

Hyunjin migrated to the first floor when she found that she couldn't put herself through the pain of having to watch the news on the flat screen TV, unbothered by the latest weather predictions and a clip of a politician talking about something.

The first floor was technically located below ground, but due to the position of the house on the mountain, the glass curtain windows allowed for the view of the trees and the peeking city lights through branches. Of course, the best place to find this serene view was in Jinsoul's extravagant indoor pool room, where the very edge of the pool almost touched the glass and the moon cast its reflection on the dimly lit waters.

As soon as Hyunjin had stepped into the room, the smell of chlorine had hit her nose and the humidity of the air had wrapped itself around her thin-shirt and shorts clad body, making her skin be that familiar sticky texture it was whenever she found herself near a swimming pool. It gave her a sense of nostalgia, memories of Sundays spent with her family at the local swimming pool as she learnt how to swim from her father, his large hands under her belly and telling her to float, later laughing as she sunk like a rock and sputtered for air. Memories of Heejin's promises that they'd go swimming together once their exams were over.

For a moment, Hyunjin wished she was ill again, finding that she missed not being bombarded by disarming memories and unguarding thoughts.

She had been far too drawn to the water illuminated with orange lights on baby blue tiles. It gave her a sense of... normalcy.

Hyunjin had drifted hesitantly to the edge, eyes marvelling the size of the bath of water with amazement. She found herself slowly descending until she was sitting on the smooth floor, her hands clenching tightly on edge in case she fell in, and had allowed her legs to drop into the water. It was the most relaxed she'd felt in a while now. Her legs had that feeling of weightlessness as the water jets sent small, weak currents to sway them.

Her thoughts strayed back to the vision, and she pondered over the meaning behind Heejin even being there.

Although a little foggy, she could still remember first having that dream and being tricked into kissing the girl - even though it didn't seem to be her either way. But the mere fact that her mind had produced a situation in which she even placed her lips on the other's just suggested that she had wanted to do so all along, and it was just her subconscious realising her desires.

Was she gay? Since when had she started to liked girls? Since when had she even started to like Heejin?

Having her thoughts of Heejin develop from platonic and friendly to affectionate and romantic in such a manner that was so smooth, like it was always meant to be that way, made her heart pound in her chest. Maybe she had always liked Heejin, but she hadn't ever realised it amidst the chaos of school, and expecting parents, and an oppressive society. Maybe that's why she always seemed to enjoy it whenever Heejin initiated any contact with her, or directed her undivided attention to her when she had other friends she could talk to, or whenever she'd smile at her with that soft expression on her face.

But did it even matter anymore? When she wasn't even a human anymore, and she had somehow become an immortal who would never age?

A thought suddenly hit her and she found her heart breaking in her chest: She would inevitably outlive Heejin - outlive everyone - so did that mean that she would never get a real chance at love, or a life where she was married and had children - could she even have children if she was in love with Heejin, who was a girl - could she even have children now that she was a sanguisuge? If she did, wouldn't her children outlive her?

"You think about her a lot."

Hyunjin flinched and snapped her head in the direction of Jinsoul's voice. The blonde stood at the glass doorway, her head resting tiredly on the door and traces of a smile on her tense lips. There was a look in her eyes that Hyunjin would have mistaken as emotionless had it been three weeks ago, but now that she studied it, it looked like a mixture of mischief and sadness.

Face warming at the implication, Hyunjin blinked owlishly as she tried to process the question. Jinsoul soundlessly padded over to her, her weightless feet bare on the tiles and her legs revealed by similar shorts that Hyunjin was also wearing.

"Who?" She asked, keeping her voice as steady as she could with the thought of Heejin on her mind. Having someone else, especially Jinsoul who she wasn't very familiar with, know about her feelings for a girl made her slightly uncomfortable. She hadn't even come to terms with it yet.

The blonde silently sat beside her, leaving a small space between them to be close to her, but not close so it made her uncomfortable. "That girl - the doe eyed, beauty mark, France vibe, girl." Her lips were tugging up at the corners, and it irked Hyunjin in the way it always irked her when someone teased her about anything.

"How do you know about her?" Hyunjin shot back defensively, glaring at Jinsoul who was now full on smirking at her reaction. It made her feel a little better that Jinsoul wasn't brooding anymore (she wasn't sure if she was glad that it meant that Jinsoul wouldn't snap at her, or if it was because she felt like Jinsoul didn't really deserve to be so down). Still, she couldn't help but be tempted by the idea of spraying her with water and drenching the fabric of her tank top.

Jinsoul chuckled to herself, averting her gaze to the window. "How do you think Heejin found you that night?"

Hyunjin's blood ran cold. "What...?"

"No, don't try to kill me." Jinsoul quickly cut in, raising her eyebrows at Hyunjin's deadly expression. She looked a little scared, but she quickly smirked again and bumped her shoulder playfully. "I didn't do anything to her - and if it makes you feel even better, I didn't even meet her."

A frown formed on Hyunjin's face as she mulled over the words. Now that she thought about it, the chances of Heejin finding her that night were so slim that she had almost thought it impossible. It would also make sense as to how Jinsoul even found her the following morning, though her dismissing it as a sense of smell rather than a night of stalking seemed rather reasonable. But if Jinsoul hadn't even interacted with Heejin, how had she managed to send her in her direction? And how did she even know that Heejin had meant something to her in the first place?

"Heejin is a pretty girl." Jinsoul said offhandedly, as if it were the most normal comment for a predatory sanguisuge to make about some human that she didn't even know.

"How do you know her name?" Hyunjin asked, feeling far too defensive and protective right now. Possible scenarios of her having to attack Jinsoul because she had done something to harm the girl played in her mind, and she subconsciously began to identify which would have the highest chances of success.

Looking reluctant, with a tuck of blonde hair behind the ear that made her look sheepish, Jinsoul swayed her legs in the water. "You repeated it a lot while you were unconscious." She said the words quietly, as if she were afraid of the damage they could cause and Hyunjin found that more ironic than touched, seeing as she still remembered the way she had used words as a weapon on Haseul and had mercilessly unloaded them on to her. And she was right to keep conscious of that fear, seeing as another wave of embarrassment washed over Hyunjin and her face began to warm just when it was beginning to cool down.

Hyunjin didn't even mumble or do anything to let the other girl know she had heard her, but the slight tension in the air was enough for both of them to know she had heard loud and clear. She couldn't help but feel dumb the more she thought about it - her, a girl, having a crush on another girl. But not just any other girl: a brilliant, beautiful, talented girl with a great personality and a questionable sense of humor, a need for human contact every couple of seconds and a smile so bright and expressive it could give her life a meaning, with the stubbornness of a bull and a determination that was admirable even to her. Her, Hyunjin, just another student lost in the crowd of over-achievers and competitors all striving for the same thing and all dedicating their time to the same books and same knowledge.

"You know," Jinsoul spoke carefully, her words treading across the surface of the waters and rippling into her ears as the distant hum of the swimming pool continued to drone on. "I've been alive for more than two-hundred years." Hyunjin contained her gasp at the revelation, not wanting to appear daft or stupid. She had only assumed, but having the assumption confirmed just solidified that everything she was experiencing was real. "I've experienced so many lifetimes in one - and in all of those, I've learnt that it's the soul that makes up a being, not their physical state."

A slight panic arose within Hyunjin, and her grip on the edge of the swimming pool tightened. She wasn't even sure what she was either way.

"If you have fallen in love with someone's soul, it isn't wrong." Jinsoul's voice was trembling faintly, and Hyunjin dared to shoot a glance at her. Her eyebrows were curved in the smallest of gradients, as if about to tug upwards into a frown but not quite having the courage to do so. The way that her eyes had that glazed look over them that she'd had ever since they came back from the Kim Estate made her gaze zero in on their reflections in the water. "If you love her, then it's okay."

Hyunjin stared at Jinsoul's face wordlessly. The way she spoke, melancholy driving her words and a strange sense of purpose in her syllables, it made Hyunjin more curious about her than she had already been.

Slowly, she followed her creator's gaze and stared back at their mirror images. Jinsoul's blonde hair stood out sharply against the darker colors of the wall behind them and shone like a lighthouse in the darkness, her face distorted by the ripples their legs created in the water. Hyunjin saw her figure beside her, the two of them sitting together at a close distance with all of the space that the room had, her black hair almost blending in with the back and dim, yellow eyes glaring back at her eerily. She hadn't even realised that her eyes had changed color again.

With a sigh, Hyunjin swallowed the cotton-like texture in her mouth. "It doesn't matter." That had come out more dejected than what she had prepared herself for, and the way Jinsoul tensed beside her told her that the blonde hadn't been expecting it either. "She thinks I'm a monster."

The silence that followed was prompt. Expected, really. Hyunjin hadn't really had high hopes of her theories being dismissed or told they were proven wrong, but finding out that she had been correct all along made the dread settle a little bit more firmly. Except now Jinsoul had shifted closer, and she had reached out with a stuttering arm, hesitating on her next actions.

Hyunjin stayed as still as she could, curious as to where her creator would take this situation. She hadn't forgotten what the blonde had done to her, her mind not letting it go from her consciousness just yet. Still, Jinsoul had been inexplicably kind to her, although it had been a little awkward and not as comforting as Haseul had been, but the woman was trying. Hyunjin wanted to deny it - she wanted to hate her and blame her for everything that had happened - but she could feel the way that Jinsoul regretted her actions with all of her being. And maybe that could be enough for now.

As Jinsoul's arm settled around her shoulders (a little uncomfortably at first, as if she had never touched another being in her life), Hyunjin felt herself let out the air she had been holding in through her nose. Taking notice, the blonde grew in confidence and relaxed her weight, pulling Hyunjin closer to her hot figure. "They will think that at first," Her voice was shaking again, but this time Hyunjin held no suspicion towards it, "but they'll realise that we are like them too."

"You sound like you have experience." Hyunjin mentioned offhandedly, actively trying her best to ignore how unsettled her mind was at the contact between them and instead trying to think that this was just another person. That this wasn't the monster she had grown to fear beside her.

A hum. "A lot." Jinsoul said, voice harmonising with the thrumming of the swimming pool.

Hyunjin began to flitter back through their conversation, seeking the social cues and recalling certain reactions. There was a sense of nostalgia, reminiscent of the tone she had used when she had spoken to her through the door when they first had met, as if she was speaking from memory. It wasn't difficult to piece everything together, and she deduced, "You fell in love with a human?"

Her eyes had drifted to look at her face, curious as to how she'd react to the personal question. She half-expected Jinsoul to completely shut her down and push her into the pool so she could drown, while she also half-expected for her to give a vague explanation of what she meant.

She hadn't expected the cryptic smile that had spread itself on her pale face.

"Yes." It didn't look like a happy smile - no, it looked much, much sadder than any expression that Hyunjin had seen on her face (which she hadn't thought possible after seeing the pain when she had been about to kill Jungeun). Hyunjin waited for her to continue patiently, the unfamiliar feeling of feeling like she had all the time in the world allowing her to let Jinsoul take her time. "It had been a beautiful mistake."

Hyunjin couldn't help but let the corners of her lips tug up at the words, somehow relating to them but also not. She didn't want to think of anything that she had with Heejin as a mistake.

"My creator had made it clear that any relationship with a human would end... tragically. But me, being a stubborn romantic and a devoted idealist, threw myself into relationships head first." Jinsoul spoke bitterly, and Hyunjin stopped to imagine a Jinsoul that was positive, and optimistic, and bright. "He had been my sixth- and after that my last."

She didn't know how it had happened, but she blinked and she found herself leaning more comfortably in Jinsoul's hold, which was weak as her mind wandered further into the depths of her seemingly painful memories. It made her feel strange - one part of her was telling her that this was normal, that Jinsoul was her creator and that it was natural that she felt such a strong connection to her - the other part was telling her not to let her guard down, that at any moment Jinsoul could turn around and devour her if she so wished to do so.

"We were happy - he had no obligations to his family since he was one of nine children, and I had detached myself from society long ago, already free from my creator. He knew what I was - he had saved me from starvation when I was at my weakest." Jinsoul's voice turned that strange thickness voices did whenever a lump obstructed a throat, and Hyunjin subconsciously pressed herself closer to her for mutual comfort. "He- It happened far too quick- I barely had time to say goodbye and-"

They sat in the full silence for a while, Hyunjin's mind running wildly as Jinsoul remained poised and tense around her. Hyunjin didn't know much about comforting people - it had never been her forte and she had never been aware at how people managed to make others feel like they were going to be okay - but she remembered Heejin wrapping her up in those hugs she loved so much, and not saying a word as she let her wallow in her own emotions for a while until she was ready to talk again. She remembered her patience of a saint, and how cared for it had made her feel, and maybe she could recreate that emotion in Jinsoul if she tried hard enough. So she wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist gingerly in a tense sort of hug, but she could feel the way the tension released from Jinsoul's muscles.

Hyunjin's skin had began to feel wrinkly a couple of minutes ago, but it was easy to ignore when she had her thoughts to keep her entertained. She didn't know how to feel - didn't know what to do.

She briefly wondered if what she was being told now was what had changed Jinsoul - what had turned her from an innocent, youthful soul into this hardened, closed personality. She wondered what Jinsoul would have been like had they met when they were both untainted and free from all of this.

"I want you to stay away from Jungeun." Jinsoul said firmly, sudden and out of the blue.

Hyunjin frowned at the sudden change in conversation, her mind reeling to catch up. Jinsoul began to pull away, her arm slipping from her shoulders and instead replaced by the tight grip of her hands.

"Promise me you'll stay away from her." Her voice sounded emotionless and assertive, and Hyunjin automatically found herself nodding along, agreeing with whatever deal it was that the blonde had formulated in her mind. It seemed to visually pacify the blonde, who's eyes softened and grip became slack.

But Hyunjin was left to think about the strange promise for the rest of the night, and she wondered what Jungeun had anything to do with it at all.


	9. nine

"The syndicate are powerful."

Hyunjin stared outside the window of Jinsoul's sleek, black car.

"Before the syndicate, it wasn't rare to have stories of vampires wiping out entire villages and humans hunting for vampires in the middle of the night. For years, sanguisuges and humans battled a harsh war of predator and prey, and prey and predator -- it was a constant push and pull between the two, and often sanguisuges would turn humans and force them to murder their own families."

City life had become something foreign to her in these past couple of weeks, where she was thrown into the jaws of death a number of times.

"Two hundred years ago, a civil war between the sanguisuges broke out, and all Olde -- original sanguisuges who turned humans for their armies -- were eradicated and extinguished. For humans, this came as a surprise, and for the sanguisuges that were left, this was chaos. There was no hierarchy anymore -- no structure to the society they had grown so used to. There was an unwanted anarchy for several years, in a sense where no sanguisuge would trust another and humans still persecuted against those who had been turned unwillingly."

Hyunjin felt the anxiety seeping into her veins as she saw the familiar bakery. They weren't far off now.

"So some of the oldest sanguisuges that were left joined to form a syndicate -- purposed to redefine what it meant to be a sanguisuge, to gain peace with the humans and stop the purging on their people, and to establish a business-like deal between the two: if the human government financially supported the little number of sanguisuges left, they would stop turning their human population into sanguisuges and illegally feeding from them. The syndicate was built from the most powerful sanguisuges left, and a successful coalition was formed with the help of some willing humans."

Her heart pounded in her chest. She wasn't sure if she was prepared for what was to come.

"Rules were established easily, and a constitution was written. Some of the laws entailed not revealing the sanguisuge identity to humans as to not scare them into another war, remaining truthful to the syndicate when being questioned and not killing any humans without discussion taking place first."

Hyunjin glanced next to her and saw Jinsoul staring straight ahead, a blank look on her face as she clenched her hands around the steering wheel.

"If the constitution was breached, there would be punishment: isolation from the world -- a chamber deep underground with no light, water, or blood to survive. No visits from anyone until the punishment was deemed unnecessary and lifted by the syndicate, and no escape until the sentence was served. The highest form of torture. Because death can't come to a sanguisuge -- even if they don't drink blood. They just end up going crazy in the head... lose all sense of morality... reduced to a wild animal."

The punishment Jinsoul had whispered to her, in the middle of the night as they lay together on the couch and the TV playing in the background to serve as white noise, was still ingrained in her head.

"As someone who breached the constitution," Jinsoul had said with a bitter smile on her face, "I wouldn't recommend being caught by the syndicate."

Hyunjin thought about Jinsoul being locked up underground for years, forcibly separated from her new creation (who Jinsoul had explained sanguisuges saw as their children) and kept there in solitary confinement. She observed the weary lines under her eyes, and the way her gaze held this strong, stubborn sense survival instinct as she reflexively scanned the scenery. Jinsoul had gone through far too much.

A shudder ran through her and she momentarily thought back to what Vivi had said: they had bounties on their heads.

The streets were uncannily familiar now, and her nervousness sky rocketed in her chest. The school's outline was in her line of sight now, and she briefly worried for Jinsoul's safety in case someone recognised her.

As Jinsoul rolled up to the entrance, students' curious eyes momentarily drawn to the luxurious model and clean wash, she sent her a reassuring look. "I have to do something today," She explained softly, as if sorry that this was inconveniencing her in any way, "so I may be a little late."

Hyunjin let out a heavy sigh, trying to shake the anxiety off of her body. "Okay. I'll stay after school." She tried smiling, though it came a little strained.

"You can do it, Kitten." Jinsoul grinned, the smile not quite reaching her eyes but still teasing. "Just stay out of trouble."

Hyunjin nodded. That reminded her; the thought of the human government keeping track on their humans so closely that they had started to notice her absence sending more shivers down her spine.

Hopefully, nothing too drastic would happen.

But of course nothing could go her way because she wasn't even ten steps past the school gates and she had already managed to gather attention. She understood that she had just gotten out of an expensive car driven by a beautiful blonde that looked like she could own her life and everyone else's, but did they really have to watch her as she self-consciously tugged on the straps of her bag? Her anxiety only spiked higher as more and more people began to stop their conversations and stare hard at her as she walked by, her mission being to get to her classroom without attracting any more attention. Attention which she could feel prickling on her skin, as well as the cooling winds of the cloudy day.

Hyunjin wished she had thought to bring her phone, that way she could check her reflection to see if she had specks of blood left over on her face, or just pretend like she was busy so no one would talk to her. It would have been a good idea to do so, what with the way some old acquaintances of hers appeared rather tempted to approach her.

"Kim Hyunjin?"

Jolting slightly in her place, she turned to look at the source of the voice.

Her home room teacher had always been a friendly man and was well known for his strict conduct of his class, which was successful enough to boost his student's ranking up the school charts by more than a couple of places. Hyunjin had never been one to choose favorites among her teachers, valuing them all the same for what they were: people she could take information from and learn from. But this teacher was one of the only exceptions, seeing as he had always been extra passionate about his profession and always put his best into reminding them about university interview dates. She had heard that the man had a child the same age as them, which would explain why he was extra dedicated to them specifically, but no one was aware of their name since he had preferred to keep it to himself.

It was a natural reaction for her to feel fear when she was addressed by a teacher specifically, because she had never been in trouble unlike some of her other classmates. Briefly, she thought about what her mother would say if she ever found out about this encounter, before she remembered and felt a wave of clashing emotions.

"It's good to see you around here again." He smiled brightly, the lines in his face carved deeply and his eyes raising to form crescents. "Your mother had mentioned to me about the job offer -- how's it going?"

Hyunjin blinked. Her mother had contacted the school for her?

"You've always had a passion for science." The teacher chuckled to himself, one of his hands -- which had been deep in his trouser pockets -- moving to lightly nudge her arm. She restrained herself from reflexively flinching away, pushing down the little voice in her head warning her of possible danger. "How about it? Made any ground-breaking discoveries?"

She laughed nervously, wringing her hands around the straps of her bag. "No, not yet..." How much had her mother said to them? How much did she have to play up the part?

Another gust of cold air swept through the school, and the teacher shivered visibly while Hyunjin pretended to grimace at the cold. Jinsoul had told her that they weren't as sensitive to temperature as humans were, since their bodies had to regulate their own temperatures in order to keep the bacteria trying to decay their bodies at bay. But she had a feeling that by clumsily dropping hints and carelessly giving clues she would give up her identity, which was something she -- and especially Jinsoul -- didn't want to happen.

"How about we go inside?" The teacher said, pointing towards his thin dress shirt and saying how he thought the weather would be more pleasant. "Principal Hwang said something about wanting to see you if you returned."

Hyunjin's blood froze in her veins.

"If you head up to his office right now, I'll tell your teachers that you're talking to him." Her homeroom teacher pointed towards the stairs as they entered the school building, an assuring, comfortable smile on his face.

"I-is-" it necessary, Hyunjin wanted to ask. But she bit her tongue when she fully took in the look of nonchalance her teacher was regarding her with, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have the head of their school wanting to talk to her after she hadn't attended for a long time without notice and still remain positive about it. She had never talked directly to the principal, but all she knew was that he was an intimidating man with small, beady eyes and a deep, growly voice caused by too many years of kissing a cigarette. She didn't want anyone to think that she had something to hide by trying to hide, a process that made sense in her head as she quickly rephrased her words. "Is it going to be okay if I miss first period?"

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it." The teacher assured with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Go on ahead."

This was the worst situation possible.

Not only did she have almost all of the students walking by staring at her with wide eyes and hushed words, but now her homeroom teacher had just told her to go to the principal. Out loud. For everyone to hear.

Hyunjin nodded obediently, not used to defying anything someone with more authority said to her. The school stairs looked more daunting than usual, and distant memories of lightly shoving Heejin's shoulder as if to push her down before rapidly tugging at her blazer sleeve to prevent her from doing just that, were playing like a movie in her mind. Heejin was in the school building -- somewhere nearby where she would be able to lay her eyes on her again (this time the real her, not an apparition (unless this was all a nightmare)) and be able to make a dire attempt at apologising for what she had done, and what she had become.

"Oh and Hyunjin?" Turning to look at the man, Hyunjin schooled her expression into one of politeness. "It's good to have you back."

-

The principal's office was furnished like someone had taken an interior design magazine and splattered it into the room.

Hyunjin was sat stiffly in the cushioned, azure armchair, her back refusing to touch the backrest when she was in a situation as serious as this one. The windows behind the large, built man shone the white induced sunlight into the room, casting shadows across his already terrifying facial features. His desk presented his title boldly, as if to remind the person sitting on the other side of who they were talking to, and his hands remained clasped professionally on the table. There were papers on the surface -- documents with students' names on them and lists of grades all lined up uniformly to dictate who would be getting a scolding for their terrible results and who would be receiving a congratulations.

She remembered receiving a letter of congratulations.

The silence in the room was thick, and it strangled at her airway as her eyes restlessly flickered between the man's taut face to the paper resting in front of him. Hyunjin could see her name written across the top, upside down from where she looked at it, in bold font and screaming at her for attention.

Was she going to be expelled? Get detention?

"What do you think this is, Kim Hyunjin?" The principal's voice was gravelly and grave, and she couldn't help but feel the foreshadow of something evil within him as he raised his eyes to meet hers in a slight glare. His fore finger was resting on the table, bent under the force he was applying towards the unknown document.

Hyunjin remained silent. Over her life, she had learn that silence was often the best form of answer. There were no words to misunderstand and no assumptions to be made from the way she phrased her sentences or the tone in her voice. This worked especially well in a situation such as this one: where a figure of authority seemed to be displeased with something she had done (or in this case, hadn't done) and was asking her a rhetorical question. Still, her heart ran wildly in her chest and she anticipated the man's next words.

"Your grades are impeccable, Hyunjin." His voice was grim as he pretended to read over what appeared to be her grades in front of him. "You have a lot of potential inside of you, but your attendance is absolutely appalling."

Hyunjin's heart dropped momentarily, but then she reminded herself of why exactly she had missed so much school and she thought that she owed it to herself to actually have a break from the stress. No matter how intimidating the man was, she would stand her ground.

"I have not received an email nor a phone call for an explanation for your absence." Hyunjin began to filter his words out of her head. She didn't really see the point in stressing over something out of her control. "How do you expect to excel in your exams like you really can when you won't even come into school when it's really necessary?"

If he really hadn't received any phone calls or anything, then that meant that her mother hadn't really contacted the school after all. Maybe her homeroom teacher had been lying to her when he told her that he knew of her 'extra-curricular activities'; that, or this man was trying to ignore the fact that she had and just wanted to take out his anger on someone. There was really no motive for her homeroom teacher to lie about something like that -- no when he had always been so nice to her and the rest of his students. Plus, a little voice in her head resembling a child's spoke up, she had faith that her mother had been concerned for her enough to actually reach out to someone about it.

The man continued to drill at her, about the importance of attending lessons and studying outside of school as if Hyunjin hadn't made those two things the top of her priority her whole life. Even against the light, she could see the blood rushing to his face as he forgot to take in a breath of air between his rapid-fire words. Why was he so heated about something this meaningless? Did he really care about the grades of one student?

"What do you have to say for yourself?" He finally asked. His little puffs of air wouldn't have been heard, had it not been for Hyunjin's ability to hear things better now.

She hesitated. She had never been put on the spot like this before.

Just when she opened her mouth to answer, the office door was pushed open without warning. The man's irritated glare moved from her to whoever had interrupted them at such an opportune moment, the exasperation in his face painted clearly in the way his jaw clenched slightly.

But the look was knocked out of his face at the same time Hyunjin felt herself overcome with a familiar sensation she had only felt once before in the past.

"Oh, Hwang-ssi, are you interviewing Hyunjin-ah?"

Hyunjin could feel that sensation of cold running its prickling hands up her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps and turning it a pinkish color. As if a weight had been dropped atop her chest, her heart skipped a beat and the air was seemingly knocked out of her lungs. The air in the room, previously smelling of cleaning products and school supplies, turned a stale kind of aroma that managed to clog her nostrils from inhaling any more oxygen into her lungs. There was an unpleasant taste in her mouth as she froze in her seat, anticipating the woman's unexpected arrival. Questions battered around in her brain, all demanding for a place in the stage for her to direct and answer at.

Turning very slowly in the armchair, Hyunjin fearfully clenched her hands around the wooden armrest. She could feel the woman's presence from her seat, and when she met her eyes all sensation struck her back at once.

Paralyzing and strangely addictive, Jungeun's aroma overrode all of her senses and sent her into a disarmed stupor. Her bright red lips formed a small, mischievous smile, hiding information behind the unreadable way her lips pursed slightly. Hyunjin couldn't tear her confused eyes away from the woman Jinsoul had told her to stay away from, and felt that familiar tug she had felt towards her when they had first met.

"Kim Jungeun-ssi," The principal had a much more polite expression on his face, and Hyunjin even dared to say a little enamoured, "what brings your here?"

Jungeun took this as an invitation to welcome herself into the room, her high heels clipping the floor with poise and attitude. "Me? I'm just curious as to why Hyunjin seems to be being attacked by Principal Hwang." Her voice was light and bright, as if she were teasing rather than reprimanding. Even the way she pushed her hair back with a hand and let it expertly drop to her shoulders in an entrancing manner was playful.

The man let out a bark of laughter, and Hyunjin frowned at the obvious way he tried to appease to the woman. "No, no, nothing of that sort." He sent a brief warning glance to Hyunjin, who sat there in stunned silence. "I'm just asking her why she hasn't attended school in a while."

When a hand touched her shoulder and sent shivers wriggling uncomfortably down her spine, Hyunjin jumped. This was not meant to be happening. She wasn't meant to be interacting with Jungeun. What would Jinsoul say?

"Ah, that would be my fault." Jungeun sighed, making a show of pouting out her lower lip. "She's been working with me these past couple of days."

Widening her eyes, Hyunjin shot a confused look towards the woman. What on earth was she talking about? She didn't even know of her existence until a couple of days ago when she had almost died to a vampiric virus and her creator had almost murdered her. Was this her way of repaying her for saving her life from being taken?

"And if you don't mind, I'm going to have to borrow her for a moment." Jungeun's grip on her tightened, and her eyes clearly told her that she was being far too obvious for whatever plan she was trying to execute.

The principal, far too infatuated with Jungeun, only nodded helplessly and dismissed her.

Hyunjin, slightly dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, absently followed after the woman, who shot her a mysterious tight-lipped smile over her shoulder. She was glad she was no longer under the heavy glare of the scary man, but now she was being carefully watched by something that wasn't human at all. In all honesty, she was still concerned with trying to find out if she was a demon or if it had just been Jinsoul's long-winded way of insulting her. Did demons even exist? According to what Vivi and Jinsoul had said, they obviously did.

Striding to down the empty hallway, Jungeun's hair swayed over her the smooth-looking material of her white dress shirt, and her thin legs were revealed by a professional business skirt gracefully placed in front of the other as she walked further away. Hyunjin easily caught up to her, though she didn't try asking where they were going because judging by the determined aura the woman gave off, she was most likely not going to tell her.

Her mind had been too flustered to think coherent thoughts, so when Jungeun stopped outside of a classroom and pushed the door open confidently as if she owned the school, she only stared back a little dumbfounded. Was she going to die because Jinsoul had tried to kill Jungeun?

"In." Jungeun motioned to the empty classroom with her head, her voice commanding.

Obviously Hyunjin was going to listen to the woman's words lest she decided she'd had enough of her useless, weird behaviour and executed her right then and there. Her hands were shaking a little at her sides, and she momentarily wished she had ran away when she'd had the chance because if she didn't die in that classroom then, then she was certainly going to die by the hands of Jinsoul when she discovered she had disobeyed her words.

"Relax," Jungeun offhandedly said, closing the door behind her carefully. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Hyunjin narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously. That was very hard to believe from someone who had been keen to do so just several days ago. "Then why are you here?"

Jungeun stared blankly at her, as if she was having trouble understanding her words. The air between them became stale once more, and Hyunjin immediately regretted the sass she had asked the question with. Her silence reminded her of that same quiet anger she was so afraid of, and it was only heightened by the way she pushed out an amused huff of air from her lips while running her eyes up and down her figure, judgemental and inquisitive at once. Rather than looking angry, though, she appeared to be amused by her comment -- if the way she lazily leaned back against one of the desks was anything to go by.

Warily, Hyunjin calculated the distance between her and the door.

"You and her are very alike." Jungeun commented, running the nail of her thumb along the top of the rest of her nails disinterestedly.

But there was no way she was disinterested when they were talking about something like this. No matter how much information was being kept from her and ambiguity of it all, it was easy to comprehend that the two women shared some kind of connection that tethered them to one another. Clearly, Jinsoul wanted nothing to do with the other woman and seemed to be suppressing all of the unsolved tension between them, whereas Jungeun just... she seemed desperate to talk about her.

"If you still doubt whether I'll hurt you, just know that at this rate, that is the last thing I would want to happen." Jungeun said steadily, as if her words didn't come from the heart and she was just saying them for the sake of it.

Hyunjin frowned. She was frustrated of being kept in the dark. Why was everyone speaking to her as if she was meant to know things when she had never been told by anyone? "Why?" She quipped, raising an eyebrow, daring her to tell her the truth. The full truth.

Jungeun gave a melancholy smile, raking her hand through her hair. "I don't think she'd be able to take it." There, in that small statement, was a slither of emotion. Hyunjin clasped onto it and concentrated on it, focusing on the way she had sounded so broken and guilt-ridden, as if it were all her fault and she was the cause of it all. What she was to blame for, Hyunjin didn't know, but she had an inkling of what had happened in the past so she let it go.

Still, Jungeun's expression irked her. She looked far too unbothered for something like this. Like she didn't care and she was just spitting more lies at her. And Hyunjin was tired of lies.

"What, are you scared she's going to try to kill you again?"

The both seemed to be surprised at her change in demeanour. Hyunjin had to admit that that snide tone had come out of no where -- she hadn't even anticipated it when she had opened her mouth to say something -- and the demeaning way she had said it was so unlike her that it sent shivers through her veins.

Jungeun was looking at her hard, now. Human, brown eyes melted into obsidian, evil, black, a red ring circling the edge of the iris (if it could even be called an iris anymore). Hyunjin didn't know how to read the woman, but she was sure that the panic on her face was fuelled by something akin to fear.

Composing herself once more, Jungeun regarded her with a new look. "She can't kill me." She deadpanned, confidence in her tone of voice. "I'm a demon. Even if she physically tears my body, my soul still remains tied to this dimension."

Hyunjin frowned, trying to wrap her head around the concept without the science behind it. "So you can't leave, but you can't die?" Jungeun smirked a little, and she took that as confirmation. "Why?"

"Aren't you curious." Jungeun jested, raising her eyebrows teasingly.

Hyunjin scowled. "Well, no one is telling me anything." What was wrong with her? Why was she reacting so irrationally?

"Fair." Jungeun pushed off of the desk and walked closer to her. Hyunjin startled when she saw that the woman was approaching her and tried to step back to create some distance between them again. "Demons can only leave once they have been paid back." Hand raising up to tug at her top button, the demon settled the sanguisuge with an unreadable look. "And I haven't been paid back."

Hyunjin reflexively closed her eyes when Jungeun tugged her shirt to the side to reveal her skin, ready to fight her off if she tried doing anything weird. Maybe that's what she meant by not wanting to hurt her. Maybe it had been because she hadn't wanted to kill her, but torture her instead.

"Look." Jungeun commanded sternly, and Hyunjin tentatively peeked through one hesitant eyelid.

The demon was holding her dress shirt open to reveal the top part of her chest, her skin blemish-free and perfectly smooth. Hyunjin felt the blood rush up her neck and tint her face pink. Despite everything that had happened and the context of the situation, she was still a teenage girl who hadn't been exposed to this much skin on someone else before -- especially someone as attractive as Jungeun. She felt like she was doing something sinful, which given the fact that the woman seemed to be an entity sent from hell it made perfect sense, but she was certainly not taking pleasure in it. Especially not when her mind was running to inappropriate places and asking indecent questions of 'I wonder what Heejin looks like' and-

Hyunjin clenched her teeth and tried to focus on the more important topic at hand: the mark engraved into the seemingly flawless skin.

Above where Jungeun's heart would be, was something that looked like a tattoo. Except when she forced herself to inspect closer, the mark seemed to be literally carved into her flesh with what she suspected had been a blade (Hyunjin kind of hoped it hadn't been a blade for the sake of her mental health and the sake of the pitiful woman in front of her). There was ink in the imperfect dip of the skin, as if to highlight the fact that it was there and it wasn't just a scar formed there by accident; it had a purpose to serve and it was there permanently.

As if feeling sorry for her, Jungeun covered it back up and buttoned her shirt up once more. "When a demon is summoned and they make a contract, they sign it differently."

"Wh-" Hyunjin was rendered speechless. That must have been painful to get; at least it looked like it from how deep the scar went into her skin, most likely two millimetres.

"It's a painful process." Jungeun stepped closer again, a dark expression on her face. "The blade has to be sharp, otherwise its far too painful and the person making the contract has a chance of dying from the pain. Fortunately, demons don't have to do it manually, so it's not as bad for us -- at least when we do it in the correct conditions." Hyunjin was still thinking too much about how painful it must have been to have that done, so she didn't fully register the proximity between them. "It's unfortunate it's not the same for the people who make the deals."

Hyunjin blinked and suddenly she had Jungeun pinned against one of the windows. The demon had just tried attacking her -- aiming for her own heart by the looks of it. She hadn't even noticed the quick movement before she was already defending herself, and her yellow vision had automatically decided to show up as she glared daggers into the woman's surprised expression.

Jungeun looked oddly calm, her expression morphing into one of realisation as she scanned her appearance.

"You lied to me." Hyunjin growled. Her grip on the demon tightened as she spat those words out. "You just tried attacking me."

"No." Jungeun said surely, with all of her heart as if Hyunjin had just said the most stupidest thing she'd ever heard. "I tried to see if I was right. And it looks like I am."

Frowning, Hyunjin loosened her grip on Jungeun. What did she mean by that?

"Open your shirt." Jungeun motioned to Hyunjin's chest with her hand, putting it back by her side when she noticed the way Hyunjin defensively clenched her hands around her when she did so. "Just do it. I'm not going to hurt you."

Despite herself, Hyunjin hesitantly released her hold on the demon and began to unbutton her school shirt. At this point, even if this could be misunderstood as something else entirely, she was far too curious and scared to refuse chancing an opportunity at trying to find out more. If she was guessing correctly, and if Jungeun was right, then she would be absolutely terrified.

With shaking hands, Hyunjin slowly pulled the edge of the left side of her shirt to reveal her skin. Her head was spinning and her breaths shortened as she struggled to look at her chest.

There, above her heart, was just rosy skin.

Jungeun frowned deeply, stepping closer as if to get a better look for herself, but only being pushed away by Hyunjin who quickly redid her buttons. "What..." The demon breathed, her hand going up to rub at her forehead as if this was giving her a headache. "Then how..."

"Jungeun." Hyunjin knew more or less what was going on through the woman's head, and now that it had been disproved they were both stuck. Perhaps Jungeun had associated her strange behaviour to the fact that she had made a deal with a demon, but Hyunjin didn't remember ever making speaking to one that wasn't her. She was relieved that it hadn't been true, because then she would have been in debt with an entity from Hell, but a part of her was slightly disappointed because that meant that even Jungeun, who Vivi and Jinsoul had both acknowledged as someone of greater power in the past, didn't know what was wrong with her. "What now?"

The demon shook her head, brows pulled together in confusion. "It's not what I thought it was." Jungeun finally lifted her gaze from the floor and looked at her with new-found fear. "You didn't make a deal with a demon, so it has to be something else."

Shaking her head, Hyunjin reached to touch her chest to reassure herself that there hadn't been a mark there at all. "Then what is it?"

Jungeun remained quiet, a pensive look on her face. Hyunjin waited anxiously for her verdict, heart beating wildly in her chest. "I don't know." The demon admitted reluctantly, but she walked past her and headed towards the door. "For now, try to stay out of trouble," Hyunjin almost snorted at the irony of the comment, "I'll do some research and then come back."

Hyunjin followed after her panicked. "What am I supposed to do, though?"

Sending a hesitant glance over her shoulder, Jungeun almost smirked through her own nerves. "Don't tell Jinsol."

-

Hyunjin had been right about one thing: Heejin had decided to change the seating. What she hadn't been right about was how she decided to change it.

She stared at the back of her head from her new place in the back of the classroom, observing her tense posture and her beautiful side profile when she angled her head a little to chance a discrete glance back at her, only to snap her head towards the front again. It was unfamiliar to sit on the back row, where her other classmates shot distracted looks at her and whispered to their friends that sat in front of them.

Bitterness rose within her as she watched Heejin's new seatmate lean closer to her, whispering something next to her ear and then point towards the paper. She watched Heejin turn her attention towards him, looking down at his paper in front of him, before stifling a giggle with her hand. The teacher lecturing at the front briefly looked at them, shooting a warning eyebrow raise, before returning back to the lesson which Hyunjin hadn't even been listening to. Which, of course, what had she expected when Heejin had everyone wrapped around her little finger.

Including her.

Really, she almost wanted to laugh. A scornful, pained laugh at the ridiculity of it all.

She clenched her hands tightly into fists on the desk, and she slouched down further in her seat. For the first time, she was consciously aware of her own blood boiling in her veins and pounding in her ears, sending waves of emotions straight to her head and stinging at the strings in her heart.

There had been tears in the back of her eyes as she met them with Heejin's, and she was sure she'd seen the latter gulp guiltily before completely ignoring her and returning to the conversation with her friends.

God, I'm so pitiful, Hyunjin scorned before staring pointedly out of the window. The sunlight was high in the sky now, illuminating the room with its brightness in a manner that was too cheerful to match her mood. One thing to be positive about was the fact that she wasn't tempted by the humans' blood in the room, and she was able to block the sound of their beating hearts out from her mind as she focused more on keeping her emotions at bay. However, her small victory didn't even have time to settle in before she could feel her teeth nudging her lower jaw. And it bothered her a little at how much she just wanted to bare them at the boy beside Heejin and scare him away, but the thought of reminding her best friend (could she even call her that anymore?) why she hated her helped her stubbornly bite them back.

She should be thinking about other things: like the fact that Jungeun was somehow affiliated with their school principal and held some sort of power over him. Or how the demon had trusted her so easily with her identity despite sharing bad blood with Jinsoul, her creator. Or how she had thought that she had a mark too, but in the end it turned out to be false.

Yet still, her mind always seemed to wander back to Heejin, and it did so hand in hand with her heart that fluttered every time Heejin would angle her head a little just to see her. Maybe she still had hope.

Again, the boy lifted his big head from where it had been hanging low close to his paper and nudged Heejin with his elbow. Hyunjin still remembered how Heejin would do the same thing to her to eagerly show her her doodles: almost always a bunny with a suspiciously familiar beauty mark; usually a cat with round glasses resembling Hyunjin's perched on its small nose; sometimes featuring both holding paws and having clumsily drawn smiles on them. Now she had to watch as Heejin leaned closer to him -- his heartbeat speeding up -- and let out a bubble of laughter she quickly disguised as a cough.

"Jeno, you better keep it quiet before I-" The teacher, an irritated look on his face before it morphed into something close to realisation. "Actually, since you seem so interested in the worksheet, how about you tell us who wanted North Korea to invade South Korea in the Korean War?"

Hyunjin flicked an eyebrow -- a habit she had picked up after spending time with Jinsoul -- and shuffled up in her seat to observe better.

The boy had a look of white panic, trying to keep his cool on the outside for all of the other students bored out of their minds seeking for entertainment, and for Heejin, who watched him closely with a guilty frown on her face. Hyunjin could see his eyes fluttering nervously from the teacher and down to his sheet trying to find the line they were reading from when he turned his head a little in her direction. She felt horrible for it, but a sense of satisfaction filled her when he let out an uncertain, "uhm..." and chuckled to himself as if this were funny.

Until Heejin became his saving grace and covertly whispered something to him.

"It was China." He answered, faux confidence in his voice as he straightened in his seat. She couldn't see his expression from where she was sat, but she was sure by the way Heejin let out a breath of air through her nose that he had thought he had got it perfectly correct. Except the teacher only blinked back at him, arms crossed and an expectant look on his face as if he were asking for more details. Which the boy scrambled to give. "Mao -- he wanted North Korea to advance and take territory in order to assert communism over South Korea..."

"Wrong." The teacher cut curtly.

Hyunjin heard how the boy whispered a quiet, "shit" under his breath, followed by Heejin's remorseful, "sorry". The way the boy quickly assured her that it was okay and that it was his own fault for being so distracted -- as if he had expectations to live up to -- irked her.

Fortunately for her, the teacher had opened the question up to the rest of the class, and Jinsoul had told her about her experience of the Korean War just a two nights ago when they had been sprawled on Jinsoul's bed together, so her hand instantaneously shot up.

Perhaps it was because she hadn't been in school for the past three or four weeks, or it could have been the way her eyes settled into a determined glare at the from of the classroom, but the teacher brightened and titled his chin up as he directed his voice at her, "Yes, Hyunjin."

"Mao never wanted North Korea to invade South Korea because of the likely chances of the American troops turning it on them and invading them back." She spoke confidently, remembering the way Jinsoul had recounted her anecdote of talking to a widowed woman in the streets of America, where Korean refugees had fled to. The details had been a little blurred, because Jinsoul's shoulder had been particularly soft that night, but her burning desire to prove herself (to who, she herself didn't even know) impulsed her to take control of the situation. "Plus, he was too busy planning for an event in Taiwan to prepare for North Korea's invasion."

Half of the class had turned to stare at her, as if surprised that she had been there that whole time. Hyunjin had familiarised herself with the expressions of other students in the school to know what their slack jaws and entranced eyes meant, but she was focused on something much more important.

Heejin had frozen in her seat as soon as the teacher had said her name. Hyunjin could hear her heartbeat spike in her chest, and the way she held her breath when she had begun to talk. She could hear the girl's blood coursing through her veins as loud as the currents of a torrent, and that hunger she hadn't felt in a while returned to plague her mind and fill her nostrils with that scent. Except it was slightly different today: Heejin had put on a different perfume.

It was familiar...

"Yes, that's right." The teacher told the students to face back to the front when they struggled to take their eyes off of Hyunjin and proceeded to explain the topic in greater detail, making sure to send a warning look towards the annoyed boy beside Heejin.

But Hyunjin was too busy staring at the back of Heejin's head, willing her to turn in her seat and meet her eyes again, just because she craved to feel her attention again and just because she missed her. She missed her so much it felt like the hole in her chest had doubled in size, and the missing puzzle piece was sitting just two rows in front of her, so out of reach even with ten steps between them.

Did she hate her now? She probably did; she could barely look at her. Had she told anyone what had happened between them? There hadn't been any hunters sent into their classroom to exterminate her yet, so maybe the secret was still safe. The chance that Heejin could tell someone had to demolished, less the syndicate discovered that there were rumours of an undetermined sanguisuge running around and telling humans that vampires were real. Could she even talk to her?

Chairs scraped the floor as people began to push back from their desks, stretching their sore limbs and beginning conversations as the teacher dismissed them for the morning break.

Hyunjin blinked herself out of her trance (she probably looked like a creep by staring so intensely at Heejin) and observed her own table instead. Usually her text book would be open in front of her, papers tucked neatly into it and notes written legibly on the displayed page. Often she'd have her pencil case laying somewhere nearby, highlighters and pens ready for use for whenever she needed to jot down important detail. Beside her would be the familiar messy notebook, with different colored card splayed on the surface of the shared desk with the excuse of "color stimulates the brain, you should try it, Hyun", and that cheerful smile that got her through the day.

She looked through the empty chair beside her and saw that there was a figure there.

Her mind was one step behind her as she absently dragged her eyes up the monochromatic school uniform, to the lined papers cluched tightly between two small, pale hands and up to the curtain of black hair that fell naturally around a shy face. Hyunjin blatantly observed the girl's features: full lower lip pink and pretty, yet also trembling to form a hesitant smile; a straight, perfect nosebridge and a cute round nose; soft, pale cheeks dusted with a light, natural blush that betrayed slight embarrassment; and large, doe-like brown eyes that looked at her with utmost innocence.

For some reason, she felt familiar.

"H-Hyunjin-ssi..." The girl's voice shook as much as her fingers did around the sheets in their grip, and Hyunjin couldn't help herself when she softened a little. "I took some notes... I mean, the teacher... he said it'd be helpful to give you notes from last lesson?"

The way she said it as if it were a question made Hyunjin take pity on her, and she decided to give a tiny smile to assure her. "Oh, thank you." Hyunjin brushed at her hair self-consciously, glancing at the papers still in the girl's grip. When nothing else was said (the girl looking far too nervous to say anything) Hyunjin decided to try for a conversation. "What exactly did we do last lesson...?"

Widening her eyes a little, the girl shifted her weight on her feet and laughed airily. "Oh... we- it was a re-cap to the lead up to the Korean War." Hyunjin could hear her heartbeat pounding in her chest, and the way she ducked her head slightly to hide her face reminded her of a cat she had come across in the past.

"Ah, well, thank you." Hyunjin tugged the corners of her lips up, reaching her hand up hesitantly towards the papers. Taking the hint, a small, "oh" gasped out, the girl carefully paced the sheets into her hand and quickly retracted her hands to wrap them around her waist protectively. "What's your name? I haven't seen you around before."

The girl blinked at her rapidly, as if surprised that she had even been interested in the first place and Hyunjin suddenly felt really bad for her. "I'm Park Ch-Chaewon." Her stumbling over her own name and visibly scrunching her face up at her mistake was more endearing than what the sanguisuge had prepared herself for, and she found herself struggling from pulling the girl down into the empty seat beside her and making her her seatmate. "I sit there," She pointed towards the seat in front of the one on the farthest corner of the room. "I only joined a couple of weeks ago."

"It was nice meeting you then, Chaewon-ssi." Hyunjin said with a soft smile on her face.

The girl nodded timidly, before giving an awkward bow and retreating to the seat she had singled out.

Hyunjin felt eyes on her and immediately directed her gaze in the direction where she knew Heejin was -- her temperature seeping across the room where she stood with a blank expression on her face and cold eyes. Finally, she had gotten what she wished for. But the other girl merely turned her head away from her and resumed her conversation with their female classmates as if nothing had happened. And she suddenly took back ever wishing for that because now her heart ached much more than it had earlier. The tears were back, prickling bitterly at the back of her eyes, and she didn't know if the expression she was making was too obvious or not but she was hurting without Heejin.

Heejin, who laughed freely at someone's lame jokes and shoved them playfully. Her hair falling across her face as she leaned forward to show a big reaction -- everyone always adored her reactions -- and Hyunjin wanted nothing more than to be there to push it back.

Maybe it had been her imagination, but she thought Heejin had acknowledged her briefly mid-laugh.

She was going crazy.

Tired of herself and her stupid brain, Hyunjin decidedly stood up and closed her text book, papers spilling from the sides. "Actually, Chaewon-ssi-" Said girl reflexively looked up at her from where she was packing her books into her green bag, her face innocent and young. Just what she needed. "-Do you want to go get a snack with me?"

The girl, looking like a deer in the headlights, took her time to reply. When she nodded vigorously -- as if trying to make up for the time lost just staring back at her -- Hyunjin approached her and gently guided her out of the classroom by the elbow.

She could feel Heejin's gaze on her back the whole time.


	10. ten

By the end of the day, Hyunjin was ready to go back home and pass out on her bed.

A couple of people had approached her -- some who she hadn't even spoken to before in her life -- and begun a conversation with her about whatever they could find to talk about. Sometimes it'd be her being in the athletics club and rumors of her leaving (which, now that she thought about it, she probably should since she had the advantage of moving faster than humanly possible), other times it'd be about her 'job offer' with a scientific organisation (she had pretended to be interested in it, and had made something up on the spot to seem convincing). Even when they didn't approach her they just seemed to stare, whispering comments to one another along the lines of, "wow, Hyunjin-sunbaenim is really pretty" or "do you think that if I tried asking her out she'd say yes?".

At first, Hyunjin had just thought rumors had gotten around about her neglecting school and her athletic duties, but listening to half of the student body apparently be star-struck by her (she hadn't even done anything special to her appearance) made her realise that that wasn't the case at all.

School had ended unceremoniously, so with nothing to do she took to wandering around the school grounds aimlessly, trying to re-familiarise herself again. For a couple of minutes now, she had been looking down at the boys' soccer practice on the field of grass from the top of the steps and felt a wave of nostalgia hit her. She missed doing sports. But she was sure that even with the new super-strength she had acquired, she didn't have the same stamina she used to have when she still kept up with her practices. It was a shame, since doing sports was one of the only ways she was able to release the stress of reading over the tiny font of her text books and writing useless information she wouldn't need in the future.

Hyunjin sighed to herself when one of the boys glanced up in her direction and proceeded to try to do a skill, only to fail and fall flat on his face and giving his teammates the privilege of ridiculing him for his failure.

She stood to go back into the school building, but caught sight of a familiar figure.

She had spent time with Chaewon when the girl had taken her up on the offer of grabbing a snack together, and she had found that the girl was extremely sweet behind her shy demeanour. They spent some time awkwardly talking about their favorite snacks and if Hyunjin needed help catching up with the content they had learnt while she was gone. It was nice having someone who didn't look at her like she was an idol (though even though she had caught the small girl staring at her, she'd had the decency to blush) or someone who didn't even want to look at her.

So when she saw Chaewon struggling up the stairs with her bag looking heavy on her back and a bunch of art equipment in her arms, she found herself softening considerably.

Until it looked like the girl miscalculated her step and caught her foot on the stairs.

Just as the small girl let out a panicked yelp, Hyunjin automatically moved towards her, making use of her enhanced speed to prevent Chaewon's face from meeting the edge of one of the stone steps and cause a catastrophe to her face. Miraculously, she had just about managed to catch her by her blazer, suspending her from completely collapsing by the grip she had on the fabric at the back, but she hadn't managed to salvage the rest of her art equipment that miserably slid down the steps.

"Are you okay?" Hyunjin frowned in concern as Chaewon placed her now free hands underneath her to support her own weight, the small girl trembling slightly from the shock as she did so.

"Thank you..." There was a pink tint to her face, and she was looking severely mortified and embarrassed of herself. Hyunjin almost thought she saw tears in her eyes from how ashamed she probably felt, and couldn't help but take pity. Not lifting her head up as she pushed herself up, Chaewon brushed her dishevelled black hair back into place with shaky fingers. Her voice was high-pitch and insecure as she mumbled, "I'm sorry for troubling you."

Hyunjin shook her head to tell her it wasn't her fault, but the small girl just scrambled down the steps to recollect her things as if getting away from her was her top priority. And that irked her more than she would have liked, because recently everyone in her life always seemed to be wanting to stay away as far away from her as possible and she was tired of constantly being pushed away and being left all alone. So she decidedly jogged down the steps to where the art student continued to clumsily struggle with her belongings and proceeded to take them out of her grip (maybe not as gently as she would have liked, but it did the treat).

"Wha- H-Hyunjin-ssi-" Hyunjin ignored Chaewon's panicked protests and her small tug at her arm in a feeble attempt to get her things back.

"Come on, I'll walk you to the school entrance." Hyunjin continued climbing up the stairs, shifting her hands on the art equipment to get a better grip. She was determined to make a new friend, and she wasn't going to let what had happened with Heejin deter her from that.

The pitter-patter of Chaewon's steps chased after her, the small girl panting slightly when she caught up to walk beside her. "I can't ask you to carry that for me." The girl tried to reason, a concerned frown on her face. Hyunjin almost smiled at the cute way her eyebrows tugged up in a way that was similar to Jinsoul, but she contained herself and nonchalantly pushed one of the heavy school doors open for Chaewon to walk through first. "It's fine, really." Chaewon took this as an opportunity to try and take her things back. Playfully, Hyunjin took the large sketchbook conveniently in her arm and nudged the other girl through the threshold, chuckling when the girl did so without much resistance. "It's really heavy, and you probably have better things to do than helping a klutz-"

"Says who?" Hyunjin cut in, raising her chin defiantly. She had told Jinsoul she'd wait after school, and now that she had made the choice to quit the athletics club she didn't really have anything to do. She had no more responsibilities or debts to the school.

"I-" Chaewon was too flustered to answer back, and she seemed to get too lost in her own thoughts to release the subconscious grip she had on the fabric of Hyunjin's arm. There was this look of surprise on her face that made all of her features resemble an 'O', and she found herself smiling at that.

Feeling a surge of protectiveness for the innocent girl, Hyunjin observed her more curiously. Chaewon had a slight air to her that gave off naivety; Hyunjin could turn to her that very moment and tell her that horses were descended from unicorns, and the chances that she would wholeheartedly believe her, wide eyes and everything, were high. It was a breath of fresh air for her when everything and everyone she had met these past days had been so dark and tainted by the world that they lived in -- everyone always knew more than she did, and they never wanted to share that information. Here was a human girl that remained untouched by the truth and gore that the world had to offer... and Hyunjin couldn't help but want to keep it that way.

Frustrated, Chaewon shook her head, her black hair swaying obediently along with it. She pushed the strands back behind her ear and looked at Hyunjin again, mouth ready to give some excuse to get her things back. But when she realised that Hyunjin had been staring at her the whole time, she was reduced to a stuttering, blushing mess and immediately released the absent hold on her blazer.

"How are you getting home?" Hyunjin smiled at the shy girl, pushing open another door to get into the front hall of the school. This time, Chaewon walked through without much protest, though she did have a slightly guilty expression as she clumsily stumbled.

"I'm getting the bus..." Chaewon pulled at a long strand of her with her thumb and forefinger, her eyes focusing on it for a second before briefly meeting her eyes.

Hyunjin made a humming sound of acknowledgement, allowing Chaewon to hold the heavy entrance door open for her (Hyunjin watched as the girl pursed her lips tightly in her attempt to push the door forward). "I'm getting picked up from here, so I guess I'll have to give you your things back."

A conflicted look passed through Chaewon's face. As if she didn't want to part ways with her, but she didn't want to burden her any longer. She eagerly slid the art equipment out of Hyunjin's grip anyway and hopped a little in her place to shift her bag so it would rest comfortably on her back. Hyunjin chuckled at the whole ordeal and helped her replace her sketchbook in her grip so it wouldn't hurt her hand too much when she was carrying it, ignoring the way Chaewon flinched at the contact and proceeding to give her a hesitant smile. She hoped that they could be friends now. Even if there would be some difficulties with the difference in species (but Chaewon didn't have to know).

"I'll see you tomorrow." Hyunjin smiled at the abashed girl, who waved before waddling her way towards the school gates.

Hyunjin watched after her, making sure that she didn't stumble again down the slight slope and almost injure herself again.

Until she heard that familiar heartbeat and caught the familiar scent in the wind.

Heejin was standing in a circle with the rest of her friends -- who were laughing raucously -- and was arm in arm with one of the girls who was distractedly yabbering about something or other. The wind was tousling her long hair, threading through the strands and it made her look more like the girl who ran with her hand-in-hand through crowded streets on a rainy day, sharing shrill squeals and loud laughter. Her expression, however, was dark: her eyes were staring intently somewhere near the school gates, her brow furrowed in slight discontent and her mouth tugged down as if she had tasted something she hadn't liked. Still, Hyunjin found herself completely entranced in the way Heejin looked so... alive. Heejin's emotions brought quirks in her facial features -- the slight tug of the eyebrow, the mild curve of her lips, a small crinkle of the eye -- and it made her more vivid.

Everything about Heejin enraptured her.

Just then, Heejin met her eyes. And it had felt like someone had shot a bullet straight through her chest.

Her chest tightened as her heart began to pound at it from the inside, begging to be let out from its confines, and she could hear Heejin's heartbeat a few metres away doing exactly the same thing. It only made the blood rush to her head as she restrained herself from walking right up to the other girl and taking her away from the group of laughing hyenas (okay, that was a little harsh on her behalf, but could she be blamed when that Jeno boy was staring to blatantly at Heejin?).

Heejin parted her lips, and Hyunjin's eyes followed the movement as if she were hypnotised. She had missed the sound of Heejin's voice; it had always been so melodic and lively, and even when she spoke monotonously to shoot back a retort to one of Hyunjin's sarcastic comments, it had that deep pitch that had always made her slightly crazy. She missed the way she called her 'Hyun' or 'best friend', and she missed hearing her bubbly laughter at one of her stupid jokes. She missed the way they would dry when they spent hours talking about nothing in particular, and how her tongue would poke out to wet them again. She missed being so close to them that she could feel her hot breath fanning across her face, how they would push out a gasp when Hyunjin bared her teeth at her neck and-

The girl beside Heejin tugged on her arm, directing a question at her. Hyunjin almost thought she saw a blush on her skin, but she ignored it when Heejin just continued to respond cheerfully.

Just then, a familiar car rolled up the road leading into the school.

"Hyunjin," Vivi called for her from the window rolling down, and she began to approach it so the woman didn't have to shout, "Jinsoul said she's going to be a while, so you have to come with me until she's done."

Hyunjin frowned slightly, suddenly curious as to what Jinsoul was doing that was so important she had to postpone picking her up. "Okay..." She scanned the car, the model being one of the most popular several years ago. It was a modest but luxurious glossy silver, a contrast to Jinsoul's dark, professional black, and it was shaped more like a sports car than Jinsoul's slightly taller model. It screamed for attention, and Hyunjin briefly wondered if sanguisuges had something for making themselves obvious in a society where they were not meant to exist.

"Get in." Vivi leaned over to unlock the door and nudge it open.

Glancing around, she saw that Heejin was staring at the car with a look of distaste. The rest of her group were mumbling to each other, "oh my god, is Hyunjin rich?" and "no, she probably got herself a sugar daddy" being exchanged. Most of the boys stared with gaping jaws at the car, ogling it as if it were something to be amazed at.

Hyunjin sent one last look at Heejin before dropping into the passenger seat and slamming the door closed.

-

"Oh thank god you're okay." Haseul rushed to hug her as they stepped through the door of the house.

Vivi had explained to her that she'd have to wait at her house with Haseul while she went to pick up Haseul's little sister, Yeojin, from school. They had driven approximately half an hour into the suburbs -- modest houses lined the streets in comparison to the Kim Estate and Jinsoul's house in the mountains -- where Hyunjin began to anticipate seeing Haseul again after a long time. She had missed the older woman and her maternal nature, so the thought of seeing her again had her anxiously running her fingers up and down the strap of her bag.

Hyunjin grinned when she wrapped her arms around the small woman's waist, pulling her closer into the warm hug. It felt good to have human contact again, just to have someone to hold and that reciprocated the care she had for them. And Haseul tightening her grip on her only confirmed it as she mumbled into her shoulder, "I was worried about you."

"Thank you for taking care of me." Hyunjin was surprised when her voice began to tint with emotion, completely unprepared by her own reaction.

Haseul pulled back and grinned up at her, her round glasses slightly skewed on her face from the force of the hug and her rosy cheeks pushing up into her eyes from the happiness. "Well, at least now you don't look like you're about to die." The woman playfully poked at her cheek without much resistance, a teasing glint in her eyes. "You look healthier, have you been eating?"

Rolling her eyes at the woman's antics, Hyunjin fixed the heavy weight of her bag on her sore shoulders. "Yeah..." It came out a little reluctant; the act of admitting that she had been drinking blood still made her uncomfortable. "But I haven't had anything since yesterday morning." She quickly rushed to excuse herself, not wanting to bother Haseul too much with the topic. She hadn't wanted to drink any blood before going back to school in case something happened to her and it made her behave strangely, so she had pretended to drink some for Jinsoul's sake before spitting it back out in the kitchen sink.

"What?" Haseul frowned, apparently outraged. She looked concerned and slightly mad that she had told her that, and it took Hyunjin by surprise when she began to drag her further into the messy house. "You need to be eating properly, otherwise you'll start going crazy."

"I-I know..." Hyunjin tripped over a stack of books left lying on the floor, but Haseul helped her stay up.

"Sorry for the mess," She said over her shoulder, pushing the books further against the wall with the side of her foot before leading her down a set of stairs into what she suspected was most likely the basement, "I told Yeojin that she needed to organise her books, but like always she didn't listen."

Hyunjin let Haseul take her down the stairs, which were steep and made out of wood that clacked underneath her heels of her shoes. The basement already looked like a science lab with the artificial white lights on the ceiling, and a UV light left turned on by a nearby table with different solutions resting underneath. There were multiple metal desks, one dedicated solely to a large computer screen and notebooks, while another had an array of colored solutions and flasks most likely containing different types of mixtures. There was even a glass whiteboard with different elements and words scribbled together with green, black and red markers. It was clear that Haseul spent a lot of time in this room.

"Come here." Haseul said distractedly. Beside a relatively empty table was a mini-fridge with a microwave on top of it, which, when she opened, Hyunjin saw were containers of blood lined up.

Widening her eyes, Hyunjin watched as Haseul naturally took one out and gently placed it in the microwave, messing around with some of the high-pitched buttons before closing the door firmly. "Where did you get that from?"

Haseul glanced back at her in mild amusement as she moved to organise some of the room. "I have willing donors donate some blood to help feed Vivi." Hyunjin continued to look on as the small woman melted into her element. She seemed comfortable with the way her feet found their way around the room as if she were dancing, her long pastel blue jacket looking like a lab coat or a doctor's gown. There was a small smile on her face as she kept talking simultaneously. "It's better than having her starve herself like she used to do when I first met her, and it works because the people that donate their blood to me don't mind the cause as long as I'm not cloning them or using it for Satanic rituals."

Beside her, the microwave let out a quiet 'beep' and Haseul glided across the room with a few crumpled papers in her hand that she placed down beside her to free her hands. Hyunjin took interest in them, picking them up daintily and spinning them around so they'd be the right way up.

The first one had just been some random numbers that weren't associated to anything she'd ever seen before, so she moved it so it was at the back of the pile but made sure to hold it separate so she could return it back to its correct place on the order. The second paper appeared more interesting. Along the top was a title written in chicken scrawl: 'Id. 119 - Pregnancy (?)', and below it was a bullet pointed list of messy handwriting that was barely legible. Though Hyunjin did her best to read through the first point and saw that it was along the lines of, 'Aim: to investigate whether it is physically and scientifically possible if sanguisuge can carry offspring'.

"Okay!" Haseul cheerfully plucked the papers out of her hands and replaced them with a canister of warm blood. "Drink up, or I'll have to force feed you." The woman swiftly moved away from Hyunjin. "And just so you know, it won't be my first time having to force someone."

Hyunjin blinked slowly. What was that? On the paper in her hands just several seconds ago? She knew that Haseul was a scientist, but for her to be investigating something so peculiar -- so out of the blue and so specific... More than anything, Hyunjin was curious about it. About why she was researching something like that, since when had she begun the investigation, how long had she been working on something like this.

Judging by the way Haseul refused to look at her as she bent over a microscope, her ears tinted red, she had every right to be curious.

"What does 'Id' mean?" Hyunjin asked nonchalantly, taking a sip of the warm blood. She didn't want to come off to strong when she was trying to get answers.

Laughing nervously, Haseul pushed her hair back behind her ear. "You know it's rude to read another scientist's work, right?" The woman had tried to mask her nerves behind a small joke, but Hyunjin easily found that she was a terrible liar. She wasn't able to hide the obvious, common tells, and neither was she able to distract her.

"I've never heard that," She piped up, shrugging her bag off of her shoulder and leaving it by a table leg, "but I've also never heard of the term 'Id'."

Haseul scrunched her nose and turned to look at her, a guilty expression on her face. "It means 'idea', which is the only thing that is and the only thing it'll ever be -- probably..." The last part she had muttered under her breath, but she must have forgotten that she was a sanguisuge because Hyunjin heard either way. "Besides, that idea wasn't mine. Well, it wasn't suggested by me, at least. It-" She cut herself off abruptly. "I work a lot on the science behind sanguisuges, and thanks to Vivi I'm able to document everything about them down here. There are a lot of ideas brainstormed, and we carry out experiments to see if they are true -- and if they are then we have to do them again to prove them step by step. It's fun stuff, really!"

Hyunjin curiously approached the glass whiteboard, absently sipping away at the crimson liquid. "What's all this?" She pointed at the writing with her forefinger, noting the different complex symbol equations and sentences written with question marks heavily scrawled beside them.

The scientist approached her, tilting her head back to look at the top of the board adorably. For a second, the sanguisuge wondered how the woman even reached to write on the top, before she noticed a small, plastic stool underneath the board ready for use. "This is our long-term project -- mine and Vivi's, I mean."

Her voice sounded... prideful, yet also ashamed at the same time. Hyunjin observed the way there was a small, bittersweet smile planted on her face, her teeth tugging at her lower lip in a worrisome manner as her eyes nervously read over the work she had written on it so far. Over the short amount of time Hyunjin had known Haseul, she had only seen this expression twice before, and those were the times she could remember the most: when Jinsoul had insulted her work and had said that she was using them for experiments. Which Hyunjin even doubted that was true, because Haseul looked far too guilty about this to be having any malicious thoughts on how she was going to use them next.

"Jinsoul hates it." Haseul said through a forced laugh, lightly hitting the surface to push herself away from it, as if it disgusted her.

Feeling remorseful for even bringing it up, Hyunjin moved towards Haseul. "Wh- But why?" Her hand awkwardly rested on her shoulder, and she cursed herself for not being able to comfort people better whenever they were upset. She wished she was more able at things like this.

Under her hand, Haseul's shoulder shook. But when she looked back at her, there was a strange smile on her face. "Well, I guess I understand where she's coming from." Her voice sounded more optimistic now, but Hyunjin didn't like the way it rang in her ear. "Vivi has been by her side for more than a century now -- what we're trying to do... you could say it's like I'm trying to take her away from her." A look of melancholy passed over Haseul's face, and Hyunjin frowned along with it. "I'm not mad at Jinsoul -- for what she said to me that day and for hating me in her own way -- if anything, I understand her better than anyone because I know how it feels to feel like you're all alone, and no one will be there by your side."

"But you're not... trying to take Vivi away from her, right?" Hyunjin clarified, seeking for Haseul's dazed eyes.

"No, of course not." Haseul said confidently, and she stepped out of her grasp to slide onto a wheelchair in front of the computer. "If anything, it's Vivi who's keeping this project running -- no matter how much I try to convince her that it's a dangerous idea."

Hyunjin was beckoned over by the determined woman, who scrolled and clicked through documents in her computer. She briefly wondered what was so bad about their project and sidled up beside Haseul, subconsciously resting her arm on the back of the chair and taking a comforting sip at the canister.

"Do you recognise these?" Haseul asked, pointing at some varied 3D diagrams of DNA strands. Except they weren't normal DNA strands... they were shaped a little differently. "These are Vivi's genes that I took just a couple of days ago -- and it's not like human's DNA which is just a simple double-helix stranded structure held together by the amino acids, because you can tell that those aren't amino acids. I compared yours to hers, and it seems like every sanguisuge's is like that." The scientist was talking fast, and Hyunjin was suddenly grateful for studying so much in the past. "Jinsoul has probably already mentioned to you that sanguisuges are formed by a virus-like thing -- though it does have some protist tendencies too -- and that it changes their DNA. So while we were messing around, I thought, 'why not change the DNA back to a human's?' and started to study more on the science behind genetic modification."

She was mind-blown. How far did Haseul's brain run? The fact that she was able to carry all of this information, and how she was able to simultaneously handle so many aspects of biology and chemistry while most likely touching on the physics involved with the body... Hyunjin had never liked the academic side of school, but listening to Haseul was getting her fired up.

The possibility of being able to be a human again? This close?

"But it wouldn't be simple genetic modification, right?" Hyunjin automatically asked, already getting dragged into this new world. "I mean, we're talking changing all of the DNA in an organism as big as a human -- manually."

Haseul was stunned into silence for a second, looking up at her with wide eyes, before a bright, passionate grin bloomed on her face. "Exactly! That would take me for-fucking-ever-" Her face fell and she lightly hit herself on the cheek. "Sorry, you didn't hear me swear."

"Unnie, I'm eighteen, not twelve." Hyunjin chuckled.

"Ah, yeah, sorry." She laughed, pushing her glasses up and rubbing at her tired eye with the back of her knuckle. "It's a habit, I try my best not to swear with Yeojin around." They both returned their attention to the screen, and Hyunjin swore she had never felt this connected to someone -- their emotions were like a synergy, their eagerness and passion melting together into one. "But you understand my crappy position: I can't tell Vivi to buy me the equipment for something this big and expensive -- even if her stubborn ass is willing to do it -- because it'll be so suspicious and we don't even have the space to store it all. I don't even know how she can afford all of this... where does she get the money from?"

"Oh," Hyunjin remembered what Jinsoul had told her, "the human government is forced to fund the lives of sanguisuges because of the coalition."

Haseul momentarily frowned, before rolling her eyes and flicking her hand as if it had just been an off-handed comment. "We've kinda hit a brick wall, though." She switched the screens to one of the folders dated most recent and Hyunjin saw that the last time it had been opened was a week ago, around the time Jinsoul had taken her anger out on her. "I've tried messing around with trying to structure Vivi's DNA back to how it used to be almost a million times -- a, wait, I have the number recorded... this was attempt five-hundred and two -- but it almost always breaks or it just reverts back to itself, which is the most annoying thing when you've been working on it for seventeen hours straight. I can't think of any more solutions... I even tried blow-torching it once just to see if I could kill off the sanguisuge virus, but it didn't work -- Vivi didn't really appreciate having the house almost burnt down, but oh well -- so I've been taking a break and, well..."

Hyunjin followed the motion of her hands and saw what she was talking about. They both knew that labs had to be clean and spotless in case of bacteria getting in places you didn't want them to get, and this was more like a storm had swept past than anything else.

Above them, the sound of keys ringing together and voices talking to one another as the front door was pushed open was heard.

"...one second -- Seullie!" Vivi called from upstairs, the sound of the door being closed following promptly. "We're home!"

Haseul smiled to herself, pushing herself away from the table with a kick to the side of the desk. "We're down here!" She shouted back, and Hyunjin watched as the woman excitedly swivelled around in her chair. "I'm just showing Hyunjin around!" She returned her gaze to her, a playful smirk on her face. "Don't worry about Yeojin, she's usually a little loud."

She smiled back, but Hyunjin consciously spun the canister around in her hands. Considering the way they had spoken about this Yeojin girl, she sounded younger than she was, so maybe doing something as gory as drinking blood around her wouldn't be the best idea.

The stairs began to clack again, signalling that someone was coming down, and Haseul stood up from her chair. Vivi appeared promptly after, her red hair messier than it had been when Hyunjin had left her and a tired look on her face even as she did her best to smile at Haseul. "Hey." The two shared a hug, Vivi's arms wrapping around Haseul's upper body tightly as the latter's arms weaved their way into the woman's luxurious jacket, her head tucked affectionately into the crook of her neck. Hyunjin felt the urge to look away. It looked more like an embrace rather than a simple 'welcome-home' hug. "I hope you didn't bore Hyunjin to death down here." Vivi teased when the two pulled away from each other, though they remained in contact as Haseul absently slid their hands together.

It was a little irrational, but Hyunjin felt a slight pang of jealousy at the sight of the two. Why couldn't she have something like that, too?

"No, Hyunjin's a smart cookie." Haseul scowled, but immediately softened after. "Where's Yeojinnie?"

At the mention of the girl, Vivi's face darkened. "She's a little moody today..."

Haseul frowned, her brow pulling together to form a small crease in the middle. "Did something happen at school?"

"No." Vivi responded swiftly, giving the woman a comforting squeeze of the hand. "She's just been feeling a little down lately, and she needs some space to relax and think about things."

Hyunjin felt as suspicious as Haseul did, though she didn't let it go as easily as the latter did because she suddenly remembered a piece of conversation. Vivi had mentioned Yeojin getting bullied at school before, when Hyunjin had eavesdropped to her conversation with Jinsoul, which would most likely explain why the girl Haseul worried for was in a bad mood.

"Okay..." Haseul relented sceptically, before brightening again. "Do you think she'd be happy if I made her her favorite dish?"

Vivi scrunched her nose up at the suggestion. "Ha... I doubt she'd appreciate you ruining that for her. Come on, Seul, she's already had a bad day, give her a break-"

Haseul proceeded to push the laughing sanguisuge away, a pout on her face as she turned to Hyunjin. "Don't listen to her, how about you come upstairs so we can wait for Jinsoul to come pick you up?"

-

Yeojin was a quiet child. At least that's what Hyunjin had gathered from the awkward dinner they were sharing, the only conversation being Haseul filling Vivi in on the progress of their project and the occasional, "how was school?" and "did you have a good day?" that only made the small teenager at the end of the table give a forced smile and a nod.

Hyunjin knew that sanguisuges didn't need to actually eat physical food, but she had always enjoyed the prospect of eating (the taste, texture, aroma, etc.), so she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. But as soon as she had placed two spoonfuls of the portions into her mouth, she understood why Vivi had opted to just sit politely at the table with pieces of cut fruit on her plate instead. Out of politeness, she refrained from pushing the plate away from her and instead quietly lay her chopsticks down when Haseul wasn't looking.

With this knowledge, she had expected the moody teenager to react worse than her, but when she curiously chanced a glance at her from the side, she saw her shovelling more of the bland, slightly over-cooked food into her mouth as if she hadn't eaten in days. Hyunjin observed her with a slightly amazed look on her face. She had never been one to continue eating if the food didn't suit her taste, and she had never really had to give up a plate of food before since her parents were well aware about her picky eating style. Even at school she had routinely brought the same meal, and when she didn't she always bought the same thing from the school store (Heejin had quickly learnt this and begun bringing her her favorite treats so she didn't complain). So watching Yeojin continue to eat the... untasteful food like it was the best thing she'd ever tasted caught her off-guard.

It wasn't long until the sound of spoon scraping the bottom of the bowl was heard, and Yeojin had shoved the last grains of rice into her mouth and was already looking up and around the table.

"You gonna eat that?"

Hyunjin startled slightly in her place, not prepared to be addressed.

Yeojin pointed to the bowl left neglected in front of her with the tip of her spoon, mouth still half-full. "Can you hand it over to me?"

Hyunjin was about to do just that when Haseul cut through. "Yeojin, don't be rude -- she's a guest and she's older than you -- where are your manners?"

All expression vanished from Yeojin's face and she completely stopped chewing as she stared back at Haseul, the food in her mouth forming a small lump in her cheek almost cutely -- if it weren't for the slight look of betrayal in her eyes. Hyunjin had only known this girl for half-an-hour, but she could tell that she wasn't very introverted when it came to speaking out her thoughts and emotions, the fiery look she had in her eyes giving away her strong personality (even when she wasn't the happiest). But with a couple of swift words and a disapproving glare, that fire was completely extinguished and left behind a a couple of ashes that resembled defeat and a blank expression that looked too strange on such a young face. This had obviously had an effect on the girl. If the way the girl slowly began to chew at her food again and carefully placed her spoon down over her empty, clean bowl was anything to go by.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hyunjin saw Vivi completely rigid in her seat, eyes darting between the two sisters who stubbornly stared at one another. Haseul remained stern, the bags under her eyes evident and the lines carved into her skin from one too many frowns showing clearly with the angle of the lighting.

"I am done with my meal, Unnie." Hyunjin could hear Yeojin's heart beating rapidly in her chest, though she was surprised at the completely neutral facial expression she wore as she stared dead into the eyes of her older sister. "If you do not mind me, I will excuse myself from the table."

Hyunjin watched helplessly as the younger girl loudly pushed herself back from the table, the legs of her chair scraping loudly against the floor and piercing through the tense silence that had shrouded the room. Vivi reflexively moved her own chair backwards, prepared to follow after Yeojin in case she reacted unreasonably. Though the girl remained unbothered, even if there was hurt in the way her jaw set fiercely, as she grabbed her plate from the surface and proceeded to the sink in the open kitchen. The loud clattering of her dumping it carelessly inside once she had gotten close enough resounded through the room as a symbol of her anger.

The sharp sound of the bowl hitting the metal of the sink made Hyunjin flinch, and apparently it was enough for Haseul to react disapprovingly.

"Yeojin, come back here." Her voice was terse, as if she were reprimanding a child. Said girl immediately spun around on her heel, an unimpressed look on her face as if she had expected the woman to react as such. Vivi desperately attempted to calm Haseul, a look of disagreement on her face as she placed a soothing hand on the woman's thigh, but that only seemed to spur her on. "That's not how you were taught to behave. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Grimacing, Hyunjin shared a panicked look with Vivi. She had never expected Haseul to act like this with someone -- she had thought Haseul was level-headed when it came to conflicts like these.

Yeojin blinked purposefully. Then, with an exaggerated tilt of the head, she gave a big smile. "Thank you for the meal, Unnie, it was absolutely delicious -- I could tell you put a lot of effort into it."

With that, Yeojin let the fake smile drop from her face and replaced it with a scowl. As the teenager disappeared behind the doorway, and heavy steps up a set of stairs were heard, Haseul visibly sank in her seat and ran a hand down her face. The woman looked absolutely exhausted after that whole confrontation, and the conflicted look Vivi was giving her wasn't helping the situation.

"Fuck..." Haseul mumbled through her hands, and Hyunjin leaned forward in her seat so she could reach out to her in case she needed it. "Shit..."

Vivi scrunched her face at hearing the woman swear, moving herself closer on the edge of her seat and sliding her hand comfortingly across her leg. "Seul..." Hyunjin warily watched the situation, not liking the way Vivi showed too much pity in her voice. As expected, Haseul took the pity as something negative and instead of letting the other comfort her, she shrugged her off and slumped on the dining table. "She's had a bad day, that's all."

A sigh escaped Haseul, and Hyunjin awkwardly shifted in her seat. She wanted to say something to comfort her, but she didn't know how to phrase her words so that they would come out that way. It made her head hurt a little from the effort she was putting into concocting a sentence that wouldn't sound completely stupid when she said it, and she wished she had studied psychology amongst all of the other subjects she'd been forced to do at school. Vivi, despite herself, seemed to be struggling at comforting the woman, and was frowning deeply in concern as she tried to reach out to her.

"Let's let her cool down." Vivi whispered as she leaned closer to Haseul, who still had her head buried in her hands.

"I just-" Haseul choked up slightly and Hyunjin finally reached across the table to rest her hand on one of her wrists, avoiding the rest of the plates on the surface carefully. "I just want to be a good sister to her..."

Hyunjin's heart clenched in her chest for the woman, and it seemed as if Vivi had a similar reaction with the way her face completely melted into one of sympathy and she was draping her arms around her. "I know." She slowly stroked her hair, her fingers tangling themselves on the short ends. "You're trying. That's what matters."

Just when she was about to say something, a weird sensation washed over Hyunjin.

She felt herself straighten in her seat and all of her thoughts washed from her mind. It felt like her heart was speeding up inside her chest, but not quite. As if it were some distant feeling from a dream -- as if the sensation didn't come from her, but was only replicated so it settled on her weighted mind. It was as if she couldn't move her body on her own, and instead she sat poised, eyes wide open and ears listening out for any signs of movement that would betray what was going on.

From upstairs, she could hear Yeojin moving around in her room and quietly dropping things on surfaces. She was mumbling under her breath, but she couldn't quite string any words together to make a coherent sentence. In front of her was Haseul's slow breathing and unsteady heart, slowly beginning to calm as Vivi quietly continued to calm her down. From outside was the occasional car rolling by, and the quiet chatter of conversations from neighboring houses. Though something within her told her to continue to focus on her surroundings, refusing to let her give up.

Hyunjin remained still.

Car driving by.

Dog barking.

Man calling for his friend.

Ringtone going off.

Another car...

Then, amidst the cacophony of sounds, she heard it: a gust of air giving way to a moving body.

She stood from the table abruptly, startling both Vivi and Haseul who had appeared to be in their own little world. For some reason, her hands had begun to tremble, the same sensations of feelings being imposed on her from elsewhere spiking a mild anxiety within her.

"Hyunjin, what's wrong-"

Vivi cut Haseul off with her own sudden movement, suddenly moving away from the table and towards the front of the house. Hyunjin followed after her instinctively, now hearing the familiar yet still distant panting approaching their location. Haseul called after them, slightly panicked and a little confused as to what was going on.

She could hear her now.

Jinsoul.

Vivi opened the door -- almost ripping it from its hinges from the force at which she tugged at it -- to an empty street. The darkness of the night had fallen over the small, suburban street and it was only lit by the bright, white light of the lamppost further down the house and the warm lighting spilling from the door. Hyunjin held her breath, feeling the air go still as she reverted back to her primary senses.

The tension embedded itself into their bodies, and she could distantly hear Yeojin's small steps approaching the top of the stairs to observe what was happening.

Then, Jinsoul dropped from the air and straight outside the doorway.

Haseul let out a shocked scream, flinching backwards along with Hyunjin, who hadn't anticipated the unexpected appearance.

But what shocked them all more was what stained Jinsoul's wind-swept clothes and blushed skin: blood.

All of them spoke at once:

"Jinsoul, what the fuck-"

"Is that blood?!"

"U-Unnie- wha-"

The blonde woman looked scared for her life -- the slightly wild look in her eyes sending shivers down Hyunjin's spine as she listened to her quick, panting breaths while she regained her voice and the uneven pattern of her heartbeat. There was blood coating her hands, seemingly still wet, which meant that whatever had happened was still as fresh as the crimson incriminating her. Briefly, Hyunjin wondered if Jinsoul had broken the syndicate law and had killed a human, but there was nothing staining her face other than a thin sheen of sweat. Her flannel was tugged off at one shoulder, and her previously spotless, white shirt was now stained with the red liquid that made Hyunjin's head spin.

Vivi took Jinsoul's shoulders in her hands and forcefully shook her, trying to regain her attention. "Jinsoul, what happened?"

For a moment, Jinsoul's eyes flashed blue, but it quickly dissolved into a panicked-stricken expression she settled Vivi with. Hyunjin felt herself freeze momentarily when she met her creator's eyes over the other sanguisuge's shoulder, somehow understanding that she was trying to tell her something. That whatever had happened involved her.

"Hyunjin..." Jinsoul managed to push out through short breaths, and said girl immediately moved closer to show she was listening. Hyunjin felt herself relax slightly when she grasped at the blonde's hand, both of their grips tight on each other. "Your apartment- I- there-"

Dread filled Hyunjin.

"A woman- I-" Jinsoul blinked, taking in a sharp breath to calm herself. "I didn't do it. She was dead when I got there."

Hyunjin felt herself slowly start to become agitated. "Was it my mother?"

Fortunately, Jinsoul shook her head in denial, squeezing her hand harder in comfort.

"Jinsoul, what happened?" Vivi interrupted, her face white with shock.

"I don't know." Finally, the blonde had returned to a calmer state, though Hyunjin could still feel her trembling in her grasp. This was bad: someone had broken the syndicate law, and they would most likely be able to frame it on either one of them. "But I know that there are vampire wounds on her neck... she bled out, I'm sure. The body, it's-" Jinsoul grimaced at the memory most likely playing in her mind again. "It's like someone mauled it. I haven't seen anything like it- not since..." She shared a knowing look with Vivi, who nodded grimly at the implication.

"We need to go there." Vivi resolutely moved back inside the house to grab at her coat, rapidly shrugging it on. "Haseul, you-"

"I'm coming with you." Haseul had a look of determination in her eyes, though she looked more scared than anything. Hyunjin glanced at the top of the stairs, catching sight of a dumb-founded Yeojin.

"No, this could be dangerous-"

"Vivi, this is serious, I can help."

As the two women argued, Jinsoul took Hyunjin in her arms and observed her, searching for any injuries she may have not been aware of. Funnily enough, Hyunjin felt the urge to do the same, and she took Jinsoul's sweaty face in her hands and forced her to look into her eyes. She hadn't seen Jinsoul this... scared. She had seen her angry and furious and sad, but for someone as strong as the blonde, she hadn't ever seen her as terrified as she seemed to be in that moment. Like there was something at her tail, and her survival instincts were beginning to kick in and override her body.

Jinsoul sighed, holding onto on of the hands at her face subconsciously and accidentally staining the skin with blood. Though neither of them cared as they tried not to lose their minds so quickly.

"It's going to be okay, Kitten." Jinsoul assured, her eyes set firmly on hers.

Hyunjin didn't know if she said that for her, or if the blonde had been telling herself that.


	11. eleven

Jeon Heejin had never seen a dead body before.

Sure, she was a frequent visitor to the 'horror' section on her Netflix channel, and whenever her friends would pull out their phones in school to watch one of the most recent movies or dramas that involved that genre she'd be there with them, grimacing and laughing at the jokes made throughout.

But this was no drama or movie -- this was real life. And real life had presented her with a dead body soaking its dark, crimson blood into the floorboards of a familiar apartment.

In blind panic and devastation, Heejin had grabbed the body by the shoulder and flipped it onto its back, her breathing already labored in the overwhelming stench. Her hands desperately pushed mats of sticky hair out of the way, brushing against the expressionless face and absently pulling at clothes to stabilise her anxiety ridden mind. Despite her instincts telling her to get up and leave -- to just run and run for miles until she was as far away from this sight as possible -- a larger, more stubborn part of her was willing her body to stay in its place, rigid with fear and disgust. It didn't seem real -- it could have very easily been a prank that Hyunjin was pulling on her for the way she had been treating her lately. That was very likely, Hyunjin always liked to annoy her with pranks and lies.

There was a turmoil of emotions within her when she registered who exactly it was.

Relief. The dark, long hair splayed around the body's limp head had looked eerily like her best friend's when she had first pushed the door open, and she had begun to assume the worst right off the bat.

Disgust. There was red everywhere: two, messily smeared lines crawling out of the nostrils; gruesome, dark stains coating the lips and teeth as some kind of froth built up within the mouth; a head wound hidden beneath the slowing stream trickling into the hair; and as if finishing off some morbid artwork, flakes splattered across pale, greying skin.

Confusion. Heejin had seen Hyunjin's mother before, and she had obviously memorised every little detail on Hyunjin's body (in a platonic way, she reminded herself). She had never seen this woman before in her life, and she didn't think that she was meant to be in that apartment at that time. Where was Hyunjin? Where were Hyunjin's parents?

Fear. As her eyes hesitantly drifted down the heavy body, she began to take note of the other cuts and bruises scarred into the shredded skin. On the woman's neck, if she recalled correctly it was the same place where Hyunjin's strange scar had been, was now a gaping hole ripped into it, most of the liquid tainting the floors originating from that source. Her shirt, which Heejin assumed had been a simple, innocent pyjama shirt with a cute cartoon of a bear, had been torn apart by something savage, opening to reveal scratches and cuts on a plain stomach, tainting it with whatever violence had asserted itself on the woman.

Sick was rising from Heejin's stomach, bubbling there and pushing up with each second she let herself be paralyzed. There was blood everywhere. Blood seeping into the fabric of her jeans. Blood caking her hands and forearms. Blood specking her white shirt from when she had forcibly flipped the body. Blood in her hair and the side of her face when she had subconsciously brushed falling strands out of the way.

She had no idea who this woman was, but she knew that amongst all the fear and revulsion, she pitied her. No one deserved such a horrid death.

Tap.

Heejin flinched, her head whipping up wildly towards the direction of the sound. It had been distant, somewhere down the apartment complex and away from where she was currently kneeling, but the paranoia was already beginning to plague her mind.

No way in hell was she going to stay here any longer.

Heejin picked up the bag that she had brought with her, now stained a dense black, and scrambled to her feet to sprint out of the seemingly empty apartment. She ignored the way her legs buckled beneath the weight of her body, shouting at herself to stop being such a horror movie cliche when she bumped into a wall to maintain whatever balance she had left after that, her focus too zeroed in on the thought of survival to register anything else. The image of the body was already imprinted into her mind, and she began to wonder if whatever had done that -- whoever had done that was still there, and if she would have to suffer the same death.

Then a thought crossed her mind. Provocational. Haunting. Chilling.

What if it had been Hyunjin?

Gritting her teeth, Heejin flew down the stairs of the apartment complex and concentrated hard on each step she took as to not trip over her own two feet. Her top priority was to get away from the murder scene, and to put as much distance between her and the monster that had killed that innocent woman.

She knew what Hyunjin was. She knew what creatures like her did to humans. She knew what they had done to people in the past, and what they could do to her in the future.

But it was Hyunjin. Hyunjin had always been that quiet, well-mannered, hard-working student that focused on her studies and her athletics and keeping her parents and teachers happy. Hyunjin had always been that friend that didn't put her on a pedestal just because of her reputation around school, or her connections to teachers through her parents' influence. Hyunjin had always respected her and done everything she could to make her happy -- even if it meant whispering answers to her when she got picked on or putting up with a shady parties she hadn't even wanted to go to.

Hyunjin had always been her person.

But Heejin knew that after that shady party, Hyunjin wasn't the same. She'd had predatory, yellow eyes that glared at her with a primal hunger, and sharp, dangerous teeth that could easily pierce through thin layers of skin, and terrifying strength that could lift her whole body up with one movement. She'd sat at the back of the classroom, draped over her chair as if she hadn't given a damn about one of the subjects she enjoyed the most out of all and as if she hadn't cared about her reputation of a good student. She'd lazily strewn her usually tidy blazer over her unevenly buttoned shirt, and her normally straightened, neat hair had been wind-swept in a way that made her look like she belonged to the local gang.

Heejin knew exactly what Hyunjin was.

The winds that had been picking up these past couple of weeks pushed her hair into her eyes, but Heejin could still see into the barren, dimly lit streets. As she brushed the hair out of the way, she felt the cold liquid smearing further across her temple. Taking a look at her appearance and seeing that she was drenched in the incriminating color, she realised that she couldn't exactly run through the streets like a mad woman.

Clack.

Heejin took off the opposite way from where she originally came from, aware of the empty alleys that weaved themselves behind crowded buildings and small, local stores that would most likely be closed by now. She had no time to double check on anything, or even question whether she was doing the right thing.

Her chest heaved up and down, tears beginning to glaze her eyes as more and more theories made themselves present in her sceptical mind. She had found the body inside of Hyunjin's apartment, meaning that someone who had access to the house keys had to have been there at the time for the woman to be allowed in. After the past couple of weeks, Heejin had familiarised herself with the sight of neck wounds in the form of laminated photographs and old reports, and she had even seen Hyunjin's own scar personally. If that had been the cause of death, then there was no other explanation.

A heart-wrenching sensation knocked the air out of her, and she stumbled slightly as her vision blurred too much for her to see where she was going. Just the thought of Hyunjin, the person she had thought had been her best friend, doing something like that to someone -- it made her feel like her world was ending around her. She allowed herself to slow down a little, just to have some air to swallow down the sob that rose out of her chest.

Clack.

This was no time to cry.

Heejin's feet slapped against the concrete, echoing around the tall walls of the side of apartments and ringing in her ear as she resolutely ran towards the end of the alleyway. There was something chasing her, and her anxiety was gradually getting to her. This couldn't happen with the monster so close.

"Heejin!"

Her steps stuttered, and as if willed by something else entirely, Heejin's head swivelled around to chance a look behind her. Which she shouldn't have done, because there she saw the focus of her thoughts walking ominously down that same alley with an unreadable expression on her face. Her hands were stained that sickening blood red, and her eyes were slightly yellow in the darkness of the buildings' shadows. It sent chills down Heejin's back.

Oh god, she had been right.

Heejin's legs began to ache as she pushed herself to run further, though this time her hands scrambled around herself in search for something.

Where is it, where is it, where is it... Heejin panted short breaths, hands shoving into the pockets of her jacket and fingers searching through the contents. Her phone was there, and several pieces of paper along with the bus ticket she had used to get there, but it wasn't that guilt-inducing shape that her hand had come to familiarise itself with in the past couple of weeks. Lately, she always carried it with her, and she never left her home without it as per instructions, so the fact that she was struggling this much just to find it was worrying. Where-

Dread flushed her. Of course. She had been in such a rush to leave for Hyunjin's apartment that she had just left it in her blazer pocket at home. She had trusted that Hyunjin wouldn't do anything to harm her, and that she wouldn't need it.

"Heejin, stop!"

She did the exact opposite, turning sharply into a narrow street and hoping that she'd be able to break through into a main street now. Or at least see an open shop she'd be able to get help from. There was no way this was happening to her.

Just when she was about to turn another corner, her body was restricted from movement by a tight grip on her wrist, and her shoulder almost clicked painfully from the force of it. With a small scream, Heejin wrenched her wrist from the hand holding on and took off again, this time the pain in her knees more evident than before. Except now there were arms wrapped around her waist, the weight of a body holding her back from moving at the speed that was required to escape the clutches of the monster. The fear was prominent in her heart as it beat itself into oblivion.

Heejin twisted and hit, kicking and scratching at whatever she could to get the arms to release her, but instead she felt herself being lifted off of the ground and being carried back into the shadows of the narrow street. Her screams were abruptly muffled by a large hand, her cries for help catching in the barrier and her voice cutting at the insides of her throat from the desperation.

"Stop, I'm not going to hurt you." Hyunjin's voice was right in her ear, and Heejin shivered at the breath that blew against her ear, fear of being bitten driving her to stop her screams and try to bite at it like a child trying to get rid of their friends hand from their mouth.

Hyunjin hastily placed her back onto the ground, removing her hands and arms from her to trap her against a wall. But it seemed to be only momentary, because as soon as Heejin whipped around to hopefully land a blind punch on Hyunjin, the latter's large hand had already wrapped around her fist as the other simultaneously restricted her movement and prevented her from shouting.

"Heejin, calm down, please." Hyunjin panted as her eyes began to melt back into their brown color. Heejin hated herself a little for softening at the sight, finding it more reassuring when she looked at the familiar tint. The taller girl had a pained expression on her taut face as she struggled keeping her still, her upper lip curling into a grimace and one of her eyes closing from the effort. "You need to listen to me." Her words didn't reach Heejin's ears as she continued to thrash and try to wrench herself out of her hold. "Whatever you saw - I didn't do-" Heejin jolted from the panic of seeing Hyunjin's sharp, white fangs extended from her gums and smacked the back of her head against the brick wall behind her, pain spreading from where she had hit herself. "-Heejin! Listen to me!"

At the voice crack and emotions in Hyunjin's normally calm and collected voice, Heejin let herself go limp in her hold. Now that she was still and the white hysteria had began to lift from her mind, she realised that there were tears running down her own face. Her chest was rising and falling drastically, and there were whimpers and sobs being produced from her mouth that she hadn't even been aware of. Hyunjin herself looked close to tears.

"I didn't kill her." Hyunjin's mouth formed the words slowly, as if she were desperate for Heejin to understand them and prevent any misinterpretation. "I didn't kill her, okay?"

Shaking her head against Hyunjin's arm in denial, Heejin weakly tried to take her fist out of her hand. She knew what creatures like Hyunjin did to humans. She knew it. She knew.

"Heejin, please." She was almost begging now, her forehead pressing against her stubbornly shaking one. Heejin whimpered at the addition to the weight, and she briefly remembered how they'd been in this position before, where Hyunjin had had the intent to shape her into something akin to the body that was now haunting her mind. "Believe me, I didn't do it."

Seeing an opening in the way Hyunjin had let her guard down, she hastily tried to push the girl off of her, managing to remove the arm keeping her quiet. "Let go!"

"I don't even live there anymore!" Hyunjin shouted back just as loud, grabbing a hold of her wrists and dragging her back. "I've just arrived! I have proof!"

Heejin slackened at the new information, warily eyeing the girl through suspicious eyelashes. "Then why do you have blood on your hands?" She frantically gestured at the bright red tint to her hands, eyes wide with paranoia.

"Jinsoul-unnie found her body first-" Hyunjin didn't hesitate to take the sudden opening at a conversation, an eager look in her eye to explain herself that made Heejin suddenly more doubtful again. "-she checked on her body and ran over to tell us -- the blood transferred from her hands onto mine."

Although she had no idea who 'Jinsoul' was, or what Hyunjin meant by 'us', Heejin managed to calm considerably at the rational explanation. Hyunjin's eyebrows had arched, and her eyes had returned to their normal color. She knew her best friend better than she knew anyone else, and if her gut feeling was telling her that the girl was currently telling her the truth, then she hoped trusting it would do good rather than bad. It didn't completely stop her from keeping her hands curled tightly into fists just in case she had to fight her way out of her dangerous grip, but it was enough to get her to breathe more steadily.

"Are you okay?" Worry suddenly tinted Hyunjin's face as her eyes landed on the blood stains painting her face, and Heejin flinched away from the hand that reached out to touch her. She almost felt bad when she saw the look of hurt crossing her best friend's face, but she thought that she had a right to do so after what she had seen that night.

"No." Heejin deadpanned shakily. It was the truth; she honestly didn't think she'd ever be able to be okay after that.

"Let me clean you up." Hyunjin offered, her face melting into a hopeful expression that made her heart flutter in her chest.

Heejin silently screamed at herself for reacting to that in a positive manner, doing her best to crush whatever butterflies had formed in her stomach and to rectify herself for swooning slightly. She hated the way she reflexively went to say, 'okay', and how she almost reached out to hold the awkward hand hanging limply at Hyunjin's side. Her mind and body seemed to have separate minds of their own, and she continuously reminded herself of the situation she was in. There would be no room for errors like this. Not a chance that she could allow herself to slip.

Sensing her hesitation, Hyunjin finally completely released her and took a step back, as if silently saying, "I trust you not to run away". (Heejin refused to admit that she felt colder without the other girl so close). "Please." Heejin had never heard Hyunjin's voice this meek, or this childish.

You can't do this, Heejin reminded herself as she dazedly stared back at Hyunjin's heavy gaze, you shouldn't do this, stop right now.

Perhaps it was a fault, but Heejin had never been one to think with her head.

-

Heejin had never met the women who had been at the house secluded in the mountains, but she did recognise the blonde woman. She had seen her when Hyunjin had been dropped off at school in that expensive car that morning, and it had sent the rest of the school into confusion as to who the beautiful model was and how she was associated with one of the students. She wondered what their relationship was.

The car ride over had been strange: it was mostly just the woman named Haseul giving her details about what had happened that night, and indeed confirming that Hyunjin had been with her when the murder had taken place. Heejin was wary, and wasn't too eager to immediately trust a stranger, but she figured that now that she was in the car she'd have to accept the explanation. The small girl, Haseul's younger sister Yeojin (as the former had introduced), sat in the passenger's seat and had been quiet for most of the ride, aside for the occassional passive aggressive comment that made Haseul distractedly glance over at her and try to reply with several stiff words that only made the atmosphere more awkward. With Hyunjin sat beside her, glancing between the two sisters worriedly, she suspected that something had happened between them (and that Haseul hadn't been lying about Hyunjin's whereabouts).

The blonde woman had been staring at her hard when they arrived at their destination, her face completely blank and devoid of any emotion. It made goosebumps spread across her skin, and she couldn't maintain more than a couple of seconds of eye contact before she was diverting her gaze elsewhere.

Even the red-headed woman, dubbed Vivi, had been observing her just as warily as she was of them, which, for some strange reason, made her feel slightly better.

Hyunjin had led her through the large, impressive house far too familiarly -- as if she had lived there her whole life. Heejin had barely had any time to admire the inside of the building before she was being gently guided by the hand, though she figured that from the pretty normal decor that this wouldn't be a murder house where she'd be eaten alive. She could only hope. Though what still made her a little uncomfortable how well Hyunjin knew the layout. She did mention that she hadn't been living in her apartment these past couple of weeks, which would explain why she hadn't been there when she had visited to see her. But if she remembered correctly, this property belonged to that intimidating blonde (by process of elimination, she had to be Jinsoul), and the thought of Hyunjin sharing the same living space as someone as beautiful as her made her skin crawl.

Stupid, she cursed at herself. There was no point in getting heated over something as petty as that -- she had to constantly tell herself that Hyunjin wasn't human anymore, and that anything between them would have to be strictly platonic.

"You have a duty to fulfil."

Heejin let out a heavy breath through her nose, the movements of her hands beginning to slow. The water was pleasant on her hands, which had fortunately stopped trembling just several minutes ago when her brain had decided that this was a safe location for now. But whatever she did, the red would not leave the surface of her skin, seemingly tattooed speck by speck into her sensitive skin. She could still remember the sensation of touching the cold liquid, seeping out of the wounds that had marred that poor woman's body and spilling onto her still dirty clothes and tainting her.

Clenching her jaw, Heejin turned the temperature of the metallic tap hotter and began to scrub harder at her hands. She wanted to erase the memory from her mind. She wanted to forget this as easily as she forgot the plots to the movies she watched. She never wanted to remember that sickening image ever again.

"Heejin." The soft voice managed to reach her ears over the harsh sound of water slapping the granite sink. The acoustics in the bathroom were really good, though Heejin couldn't really find it in herself to be surprised when the whole building looked more expensive than her whole life (perhaps not quite, what with the recent discovery of her parents' job profession). "Don't hurt yourself." Hyunjin sidled up beside her, carefully taking her wrists into her hands. She dwarfed them in size as her fingers gently wrapped around them, like she was afraid to break or scare her.

When Hyunjin moved to stand closer to her, Heejin flinched away. Immediately after, Hyunjin's hands flew away from her and she took a step back, another hurt look on her face. This time guilt consumed her and Heejin went to move her mouth to give an explanation, just to be closer to her again, but that voice was telling her 'don't' so the only thing that came out was a quiet, "Sorry."

Pursing her lips, the vampire nodded. "I understand..." She turned the tap off before moving back towards the door. Hyunjin refusing to look at her didn't sit particularly well in her chest, and Heejin found her feet automatically dragging after her.

"No, wait I-" Heejin felt herself blush at her stutter and bit her tongue instead, hating the tension that had enveloped the small room. "I'm sorry, I-"

Hyunjin turned, a meaningless smile on her face as she held up a clean cloth. "You don't have to explain." She moved back towards her, the sleeves of her blazer having already been rolled up to her elbows and her hair tucked behind her ears. She looked like her Hyunjin again. "I'm not exactly someone you should trust."

"Hyun..." Heejin felt herself softening the longer she looked at Hyunjin -- and the longer she looked at her the more she realised how much she had craved her presence these past couple of weeks. How seeing her again after so long had made her want to rush to her straight away and officially devote her whole life to being by her side. How she had somehow managed to mature over such a short period of time and how now that she was standing there in front of her, just a step away from her, she had gotten more beautiful (if that was even possible). And it made Heejin's head spin a little with just how much she had to restrain herself from just throwing herself at her and allowing herself the smallest of gifts. Just how much she had to repeatedly chant at herself of the consequences there'd be and the repercussions she'd have to face.

"Don't call me that." She was broken out of her stupor. Hyunjin had a blank look on her face as she glided past her, her eyes set on the bathroom sink.

Heejin balked, surprised at the sudden change in behaviour. "What? Why?"

"You shouldn't associate yourself with me." Hyunjin replied as easily as if she were stating how much she liked bread, and even if Heejin didn't want it to, it broke her a little. Those were the words she had been hoping would be said to her ever since she had found out the truth -- the deep, dark secrets that the world had been keeping from her -- but now that her hopes had been fulfilled and they had been said and directed at her, she couldn't help but wish that they had never been uttered. That they had never even been thought of in the first place.

Heejin moved closer to the vampire, who distractedly began to wet the cloth. "I want to, though." At her voice, the other girl froze over the sink, and she found herself doing the same. That wasn't the line she was supposed to say after that. This wasn't what she had been asked to do. "I-I- why shouldn't I?"

The silence between them was electrifying -- as if the tension was lifting every hair and filling her body with inexplicable energy -- and Hyunjin's shoulders faintly rose up and down as she thought. Heejin wanted to reach out to her, to be honest and tell her everything. To comfort her and to be comforted. But with the way the vampire whipped around to face her, a dark expression on her face that told her to stay away, she decided that perhaps that wouldn't be the best idea at that moment. "Because I'm a monster." It was said as a statement, as something infallible. It taunted Heejin into denying it, though she stopped herself from instinctively going to protest. "I'm a damned vampire and you know it."

Heejin frowned. She had wanted to deny it. Some small part of her still believed that this was some elaborate prank, or some nightmare that she would wake up from and everything would be back to normal. But only hearing Hyunjin confirm it for her made everything seem more final. It made it more real. Which only made her duty more real.

Perhaps Hyunjin pushing her away was a good thing. That way no one would have to get hurt. If Hyunjin pushed her away and they never spoke again, it wouldn't be her fault and she wouldn't be blamed for anything.

But she didn't want to be pushed away. Especially not by Hyunjin.

Why would she be pushing her away? She understood that it could have been because she didn't want to hurt her through her new identity that she obviously struggled to control (as seen from past experiences), but if that were true, then why had she been talking so much to Chaewon at school? Why had she approached her first if she didn't want to hurt anyone? Why was she the only one being pushed away? Why, when they were best friends?

"That doesn't seem to matter when it's Chaewon." Heejin found herself saying it before she could stop herself, and as soon as it had flown out of her mouth her face had began to tint red. She recognised that one of her flaws included being naturally prideful -- her admitting to her jealousy certainly damaged that pride a little, and it was far more embarrassing than anything she had ever experienced before.

Hyunjin frowned slightly, as if not seeming to understand what she was saying. "What are you talking about?"

Huffing frustratedly, Heejin took a step closer. "You say that I shouldn't associate myself with you because you're a vampire-" and she's right, "-but why are you letting that girl Chaewon associate herself with you if she's a human too?"

"That's different-"

"Is she your new best friend?" Now it was too late to stop, and all rationally left her.

"That's not fair." Hyunjin darkened further, straightening in her place and settling her with a stern look that made her look unrecognisable. "You haven't been treating me like a best friend. You can't say that. That's not fair."

"It's true, you're going to leave me for her." These thoughts hadn't even ever crossed her mind before, but now that she was saying them she couldn't help but find a slight truth to them. Her insecurities had always been kept deep within her, and had never fully arisen before because there hadn't ever been a need for them to. But now that she thought more and more about the interaction she had witnessed between Hyunjin and Chaewon, and the more she mulled over the bright smiles and abashed looks, the more her blood seemed to boil.

As if a flame were being sparked, Hyunjin's expression livened into outrage. "You left me first!"

Maybe it was because she hadn't been prepared for that, or because deep down, she knew it to be true, but Heejin scrambled for a reply. "That's not true..."

"It is, and you know it." Hyunjin shot back emotionally, stepping closer as if to intimidate her. "You moved my seat to the back of the classroom, because you were scared of me. You are scared of me." Heejin cowered, tears prickling the back of her eyes. It hadn't been as easy as she made it sound -- she hadn't wanted to move away from her, no matter what she had become. She really hadn't had a choice. "You left me when I proved you wrong and showed you how much of a monster I am." There was no excuse for that one, and Heejin knew that there would never be one because Hyunjin was right, as much as she hated it. "You left me alone at a party that I didn't even want to be in -- that I attended just because you asked -- and you decided that you'd had enough of me so you left me to have fun with the rest of your friends -- I was too much of a burden for you to even check up on me. You left me and some guy tried harassing me because who leaves their underage friend alone at a party? And my saviour came in the form of a vampire that turned me into one of them because my best friend was too busy having fun to do the same and- you know what? I'm glad it was the vampire instead of the guy-"

"Are you saying it's my fault?" Anger rose up in her chest, though Heejin was aware it was probably sparked by the guilt and regret that was suddenly suffocating her airway.

"Is it not?" Hyunjin challenged, tilting her chin back as if to dare her to say otherwise.

"Why did you come, then?" Heejin's heart clenched in her chest but her voice was dripping with venom, armed to sting.

Hyunjin scrunched her face, tears glistening her eyes. "Because you asked me to." It came out too quiet -- too vulnerable for Heejin to respond harshly to it. "Because believe it or not, I actually like being your friend."

"Well it doesn't seem like it." Heejin internally grimaced at the way her words were coming out, but her anger was overriding the rest of her emotions and she had lost a sense of direction far too early on in the conversation for her to regain herself. "You could say you don't give a crap about me and I'd believe you in a second."

"Oh, I'm sorry I don't give you all of my attention." The sarcasm managed to come out just as scathing as her snarl, if not more. "I forgot, I'm friends with 'Queen Heejin', the 'it girl', should I bow down to you, your highness?"

"Shut up." She didn't know why, but that affected her more than she had thought it would. Perhaps it was because Hyunjin had always looked past the image she upheld for the rest of the school, and had never seen her as something that she wasn't. Maybe being outright addressed and mocked for that had hit her harder than she would have ever anticipated. "That's not what I want you to do."

"Then what?" Hyunjin raised her voice, her face slightly red from the anger in her veins. Heejin refused to be intimidated by her strong demeanour, instead straightening her posture and looking her dead in the eyes. "What do you want me to do?" The taller girl's eyes narrowed slightly as she stepped closer, this time leaning down as little so they'd be eye-to-eye. The proximity snapped Heejin out of her rage-induced trance, and she was suddenly aware of how close they were standing, how Hyunjin's breath brushed against her lips and how her shampoo could be smelt as her hair fell from behind her ears to frame the side of her face. "What do you want from me, Jeon Heejin?"

Maybe Heejin had gone crazy. It was the trauma from what she had seen earlier. Or it could have been the lack of sleep she'd been suffering from lately.

Maybe it was just because Hyunjin just happened to be very attractive when she was angry, something that Heejin had never noticed but had caught glimpses of in her competitiveness before (which she had always managed to swoon over).

Maybe she owed this to herself, after everything that she had been through and everything she would go through.

Hyunjin's hair fell messily, and her eyes were passionate as they dug into hers. Her bare lips were parted slightly and her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth and suddenly thoughts about doing that for her were plaguing her mind and all Heejin could think of was just stealing the very breath that left the girl's lips and warmed hers. Even the rising and falling of her chest, with her messily done up shirt and lightly opened collar from the uncoordination, continued to provoke her mind.

Don't do it, don't be an idiot, remember your duty, Heejin repeated to herself like a mantra, you shouldn't do it.

It just so happened to be the exact same moment that Heejin was going to pull away that Hyunjin's feline eyes decided to drop to her mouth, the pressure of the gaze on her sparking her nerves into life.

Fuck it.

Heejin grabbed either side of Hyunjin's face and pressed their lips together, hard.

It was short-lived, because Heejin came to her senses just as quick as she had initiated anything and pushed herself away. She had been far too forceful and had practically hit the other girl with her mouth, but even just the feeling of her lips against hers had been enough to send her brain into an unplanned short-circuit and send shivers all the way down her body.

"What-" Hyunjin's eyes appeared dazed, as if she were off in some other planet.

You should leave, right now, Heejin told to herself. But all she could think of was the way Hyunjin's facial features had melted into an expression she had never seen before, and it was more tempting than anything she had ever come across before, because it was like she was demanding to be kissed again. She could barely stop herself from zeroing in on the girl's parted lips, glazed with remnants of her own lips, and a heat initiated itself in her brain and proceeded to wash over her whole body as Hyunjin's eyes met hers.

It was almost mutual, really, the way that Heejin practically threw herself at her and Hyunjin brought her closer with enough force to knock the air out of her lungs. But even the feeling of their lips moulding together in a manner that was softer yet faster than the first time was enough to leave her breathless. Which was a bad thing, because all she wanted to do was press herself closer to Hyunjin and move her mouth against hers more like she had been starved from this luxury for her whole life and had only just gotten a taste of it. So she settled for briefly pulling away, not enough for their lips to separate but enough for her to be able to part hers and audibly gasp for air.

Though Hyunjin apparently took this as an invitation and instantly chased after her, pulling her back towards her and dipping her tongue into her mouth. Heejin whimpered in surprise, her eyebrows tugging together at the new, yet welcome sensation. The noise only seemed to spur Hyunjin on, as she forcibly grabbed her by the hips and spun them around so she could pin her against the sink.

The force was enough for Heejin to knock her head backward, their lips parting with a sound that made a lump form at her throat. As if desperate, Hyunjin gratefully accepted the accidental opening and pressed her open mouth against her neck. It was a strange feeling, having someone kissing her neck. The warmth was hot, and the sensation of a tongue pressing flat along the sensitive skin and tentatively lapping at it reduced her to stuttered words of, "Hyun" and "wait".

Subconsciously, Heejin threaded her fingers through Hyunjin's hair, clenching her eyes shut at the new feeling. She wasn't unfamiliar on the topic of kissing, and had definitely overheard some of her friends' stories of their boyfriends doing just this to them, but she had always remained sceptical of the action. Truthfully, she had never understood what was so enjoyable about someone kissing a person's neck when they could be kissing their mouth instead, but now that she had been placed in that situation, she found herself tugging Hyunjin impossibly closer.

Hyunjin breathed a small, "Heejin" against the column of her neck as she wrapped her arms tighter around her lithe waist and fisted the back of her shirt.

Head spinning, Heejin leaned her neck away from Hyunjin and met her eager lips again with hers. She found that the way their lips seemed to sink together so effortlessly, warm and admittedly slightly wet, was the most addictive feeling she had ever come across. The small puffs of air that Hyunjin allowed past her moving lips and hit her mouth drove her a little crazier each time, and she found her resolve being chipped away each time to leave a primal instinct within her that she had never discovered before. A rawness that drove her to gently scrape her nails against her scalp and draw a satisfied gasp out of the other girl.

She had fantasised about kissing Hyunjin before -- had imagined it to be something innocent, and soft -- under a cherry blossom tree in the spring after sharing a sweet confession.

The reality was something darker -- more desperate, as if they needed to be close to survive. The left over emotions of the argument they'd been having had Heejin suddenly remembering her point of that other girl getting too close to Hyunjin -- her Hyunjin -- and she was clawing at her shoulder to pull her closer, to just feel the other girl's warmth and to have her be alive. To be okay after the scare that she'd had.

The hum that Hyunjin let out vibrated against her mouth, and she impatiently tugged at her upper lip in between hers with the intent to drag another sound out of her.

"Hyunjin?"

As if being doused with water, Heejin became aware of their surroundings and gently nudged Hyunjin away. There had been a knock at the door, and the sound of Haseul's voice carried into the bathroom.

"When you're done, Jinsoul wants to have a conversation with everyone there."

Heejin's chest rose up and down heavily as she tried catching her breath, her eyes planted right on the distracted girl. Her hair had been mussed to leave remnants of her hands, which Heejin strangely took pride in, and her lips were slightly swollen with a red tint that made her want to kiss the life away from her even more. She enjoyed the way Hyunjin dazedly blinked herself out of her stupor, swallowing visibly and reluctantly looking towards the door.

"Okay," her voice was hoarse, and Heejin swore she'd never heard anything more attractive, "we'll be right there."

Hyunjin's gaze remained on the door a little longer, her head angled in a way that defined her jawline.

Heejin licked her lips, shaking her head a slightly to rid herself of whatever trance she'd been thrown into. This wasn't okay, this was a mistake. But when Hyunjin's head turned to look at her, her eyes portraying an immense array of emotions, those thoughts were momentarily wiped from her mind.

They stayed there for a while, just admiring one another as they finally processed what had just happened.

"I'll go get you some clothes." Hyunjin said, clearing her throat. She hesitated slightly, as if conflicted on whether to leave her side or not, but eventually she mustered enough determination to leave her there.

As soon as the door had closed behind her, Heejin collapsed against the sink.

This would only complicate matters even more. How would she be able to fulfil her duty after this?

Heejin groaned.

What had she done?


	12. twelve

Heejin first met Choi Yerim when her and Hyunjin's homeroom teacher had asked her to show her around the school on the latter's first day at school. As far as first impressions went, the second year at the time had been struck with a sense of brightness and bubbliness that she couldn't really find in anyone else she knew -- not even herself, when she was known to be one of the girls with the prettiest smiles in the school. This girl had a beautiful smile and an energetic attitude to learning that she couldn't find in herself no matter how much she tried to spark over and over again for the sake of living up to her parent's hopes.

The introduction had been the easiest one Heejin had ever had to deal with. She found that there were no stutters in their conversation and definitely no awkward pauses that had always managed to scare her away from speaking to strangers. However, even though Heejin had quickly taken a liking to her personality and attitude, it had always been difficult to actually have any interactions with those from different grades. Especially when she specifically dedicated her time to following after Hyunjin everywhere (or the one place you could always find her: the study hall) so she could 'help' her study (okay, so her main aim had always been to drag her best friend away from her books, but in her defense she did take on the role of feeding her whenever she got too hungry).

Still, whenever Yerim would have any issues or simply wanted to catch up with her, Heejin always welcomed her with open arms. Literally.

Yerim had the warmest hugs that always made her heart soar a little in her chest, since the younger girl had a habit of picking her up and spinning her around from the excitement. Never mind that they weren't even good friends, but the bubbly girl just seemed to be so open and warmhearted that Heejin doubted she'd deny a hug from a stranger on the streets.

Despite her exuberant disposition and apparent zest for life, Heejin would sometimes catch the girl deep in thought. And she found herself discovering that one of the greatest misconceptions of Choi Yerim was that she was just a happy-go-lucky type of person. She admitted that her added dramatic flare to everything was mostly a flaw, but when Heejin actually took the time to study the melancholic manner in the way Yerim's eyes down turned into the sadness and woe of a married woman waiting for her husband to return from the war, the thought that perhaps her junior wasn't 'just an airhead' solidified in her mind.

In fact, ever since then she had always made the extra effort to get Yerim to open up and speak about whatever was bothering her. But as much as Heejin was a 'people-person', Yerim was that and much more. She always seemed to have the perfect timing to slip in something into conversation and have Heejin herself change the topic as swiftly as her grades dropping the more time she spent daydreaming about this in class.

Maybe Yerim had a hard time at home and used the happy facade to disguise that.

Maybe her parents were going through a divorce right now and wanted to distract herself from that.

Maybe her cat died.

Heejin -- dramatic and theatrical Heejin -- had never once stopped to think, "hey, maybe Choi Yerim isn't as human as you think she is".

Her cat died?

No, more like: Choi Yerim is part of the same vampiric cult your best friend and possible love of your life is in.

(What, did they just hand out membership passes at this rate?)

Both Heejin and Hyunjin froze when they saw their junior sitting at the dining table, grim expression on her face and hands that paled in contrast to the dark surface of the wood folded neatly in front of her.

All at once, it all began to click in Heejin's mind: why Yerim had never liked to talk about her parents (it wasn't because they were separating, it seemed); or why she didn't really frequent the cafeteria for addictive snacks as much as a healthy high school student should (the clerk already knew Heejin by first-name basis at this point), or why she sometimes looked like she had just murdered a man (no, Yerim wouldn't ever kill anything -- it's Yerim).

With a slightly panicked look on her face and a stiff attempt at a smile, Yerim stood from the table. Heejin couldn't help but stare back at her with a slightly agape expression (was that betrayal that was burning in her veins?) and a lack of words as she just tried registering the fact that Choi Yerim was a vampire. Some part of her still reflexively went to move towards the younger girl (was she even younger than her?) to give her the routinely hug, but a greater part of her reminded her that that was exactly what was expected of her: to get close to vampires. Close enough to slide under their radars.

Almost bitterly, she cast a glance at Hyunjin beside her.

Why had it been her? Out of all the other people on the face of the earth -- of all the girls that could have been victimised -- why had it been Hyunjin? Deep down she knew that where Hyunjin had been coming from had had a sense of truth to it. The difference in their species would prevent a lot of possibilities that could have happened between them, had anything been slightly different. Then again, why had it been her? Out of all the people that Heejin had come across -- all the boys that confessed their love directly to her -- why had it been Hyunjin? It had always been a faint feeling that had split straight through her heart when they first met and sat itself there ever since, that pulled her towards Hyunjin in particular. Everything that Hyunjin did, and was, had always made fed that feeling and made it grow.

She loved Hyunjin. The thought -- no, the fact, made everything worse.

She loved Hyunjin, and she hated herself. For doing what she was doing to the person she loved.

Hyunjin wore her familiar blank expression on her face with her eyes determinedly set on the dining table where Yerim had taken her seat again beside Kim Lip (the older sister, as Yerim had introduced). Hesitant at first, her hand offered itself for her to hold. When Heejin, who was too surprised and flustered, failed to react in time, Hyunjin forcefully took her smaller hand in her hold and began to lead her to the table where the group of intimidating women.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was almost certain that it could be heard by everyone in the room as they all turned their heads towards her when Hyunjin sat her down on a seat beside the other human, Yeojin. The conversation that had been previously rolling between them had ceased momentarily as everyone observed her every move, which wasn't much to observe considering the fact that she had pressed herself against the back of the seat and remained there paralyzed.

"The woman-" Hyunjin spoke up from the seat she had taken beside her, her hand still tightly clenching hers underneath the table in her lap. "-I didn't recognise her at first." A slight surge of sick swayed through Heejin as she remembered the maimed body, which now seemed on the kitchen counter with two black trash bags covering it. "She's the neighbor from down the hall. We sometimes used to take care of her cat when she asked us to, and when we'd go away my parents would ask her to look after the apartment. My mother must have given her an extra key so she could get in..."

"Sard..." The red-haired woman, Vivi, scowled as she rubbed her forehead. "I checked the whole place. I didn't find a key."

Beside her, the short-haired woman, Haseul, grimaced. "Nothing in her pockets either."

There was a bout of silence that fell across the table, and Heejin diligently tried keeping her eyes on her bare legs. She felt out of place amongst all these vampires -- especially with the mission she had on the side. Honestly, it surprised her that they even trusted her enough to let her listen in to their conversation when she was just a human they had met a couple of hours ago.

"For the poor thing to look so unrecognisable..." Vivi warily glanced towards the large lump on the kitchen counter, prompting everyone else to follow her eyes and observe the only other presence beside them. "I can't remember seeing anything like that... not since..."

"Not since Yves?" Kim Lip, who was sat between Yerim and Haseul, cut through the silence with an expressionless look on her face.

Heejin had met Kim Lip a couple of times before when she had come to pick Yerim up from school, or had happened to be there for a meeting with the principal (something that Heejin was still suspicious of, because her parents were aware of all of the founders and stock-holders of the school and never had they mentioned the woman's name). She had never found anything particularly 'off' about the woman, except for the fact that she was far too beautiful to merely be an office worker. However, unlike Yerim's revelation, she wasn't all to surprised to see her amongst the other faces around the table.

Jinsoul had to be the most intimidating out of all of them. Her platinum blonde her made the glare of her eyes sharper (as if they already didn't want to make Heejin cower in fear) and the whole aura she gave off wasn't too dissimilar of powerful politicians that her parents had invited as guests to their parties. She knew better than to mess with her, and she thought that this was a mutual thought that had crossed everyone's minds -- all except Kim Lip's, it seemed, because whatever she had said had set the blonde off and now she was threateningly shooting daggers with bright blue eyes across the table.

Before she could say anything, Yerim innocently spoke up beside Kim Lip. "'Eves'? You mean-"

"She means Saerim." Jinsoul, although her voice still scathing, had calmed down considerably once Yerim had talked. The contrasting soft manner with which she regarded Yerim with in comparison to the look of disdain when looking anywhere near Kim Lip was almost comedic. Heejin had seen this scenario one too many times than what she wished for, so she wasn't all too unfamiliar with the dynamic these three shared.

"Who's Saerim?" Hyunjin levelled Jinsoul with a look of determination when the older woman turned to her with a look that already gave away her intentions of changing topic. Heejin had only ever seen her best friend be this bold and direct whenever she was competing, be it in athletics or in academics. But the firm way her jaw set and her chin tauntingly tilted back as if daring Jinsoul to change topic made Heejin's heart skip a beat in her chest.

Sighing, Jinsoul helplessly glanced beside her towards Vivi, who seemed to be watching her carefully in anticipation.

"Saerim was Jinsol's creator." Kim Lip seriously didn't seem to get the hint that Jinsoul didn't want her to talk, Heejin mused as the blonde once more snapped her head in her direction in warning. Or maybe she did and she didn't give a damn, what with the challenging flick of the eyebrows the woman gave.

"You shut it." Jinsoul hissed.

"So who's 'Eves'?" Yerim tilted her head curiously at the blonde. Heejin had known Yerim for almost two years now, and she had been around her mischievous teasing and pokes of fun to be able to recognise the glint in her eyes as she continued to press for information.

"This isn't the time for this." Jinsoul tried diverting, straightening in her seat in an effort to look more serious (why wasn't anyone else as intimidated as she was? Even Yeojin, who was also human and younger than her, looked far too relaxed in her seat). When she saw that both Yerim and Hyunjin had managed to team up to gang up against her, and that Vivi wasn't doing much to come to the rescue, Jinsoul growled lowly under her breath and glared at Kim Lip with all of her being. "If I'm going to be explaining this, I'm going to have to do it fully." With a suddenly bored look in Haseul's direction, the blonde addressed her. "And I'm sure we don't want the body to keep decomposing when we want to find out what killed it, right?"

Looking a little surprised at the change in topic, Haseul pushed herself away from the table. "You're right. But I can start preparing inspection on my own, I don't need all of you to gather."

As the short-haired woman moved swiftly into the kitchen, everyone else turned to look at Jinsoul. Heejin uncomfortably shifted in her seat at the tense silence, but stopped once she felt Jinsoul's intense eyes on her. Beneath the table, as if she had instinctively known how nervous the look made her, Hyunjin squeezed her hand in reassurance.

"Saerim was my creator." Jinsoul began reluctantly, her voice devoid of emotion.

"'Was'?" When Yeojin interrupted, Jinsoul settled her with a look of irritation. From across the table, Vivi mouthed and gestured for her to be quiet, making the younger girl beside Heejin huff in frustration and slide further down in her seat.

"Saerim was an Olde sanguisuge-" Hyunjin perked up at the terminology, while Heejin struggled to keep up with it. "-and was known to be one of the most powerful. She turned humans to vampires for fun -- to torture them just because she could -- and she forced them to kill their own families for her own amusement." Heejin's blood ran cold, her eyes fixated on the blank expression on Jinsoul's face. She had read about those when she had been studying into the topic of vampires... "There were hundreds of them... of vampires turned because of her, who either killed themselves after they realised what they had done, or who remained under the spell that she managed to put them under. She had always been good at putting things under her spell," with hidden intentions, Jinsoul looked back into Kim Lip's eyes and slightly flared her nostrils, "hadn't she, Jungeun?"

Kim Lip froze, her whole body riddled with tension at the apparent dig. "Yes..." The admittion had been said quietly, as if reluctantly being pulled out straight from her throat by the blonde. Though Heejin spotted the slight surprise that flashed in Jinsoul's eyes at the easy surrender.

"No matter how many underlings she had, she always seemed to dote on me the most." A grimace contorted the blonde's face, as if she were suddenly remembering the experience. "She had turned me, and unlike the others, she didn't make me kill my own family. Instead, she did it herself. She kept me by her side almost all the time. Made me watch as she turned, and turned, and turned more villages - decreased almost the entire population of Busan at the time. She said told me that she had been about to stop her purging, but when she saw me, she found another motivation. That what she was doing was for me."

It seemed like Heejin shared a collective reaction with both Yerim, Hyunjin, and Yeojin, who frowned in disgust at the insanity behind the story. Heejin almost didn't believe it (maybe it was just some sob story to gain her trust), but when she looked at Kim Lip's guilty (?) face and Vivi's pained expression, she knew there had to be truth to it.

"But she wanted more." Jinsoul said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. And perhaps it was, because it had always been like this with the bad guys in the movies, right? "'More' wasn't 'more sanguisuges', and it wasn't 'more death' anymore. Instead, she turned to other powers." Kim Lip tensed. "Demonic powers, it seemed, that were right at her disposal since even before I was turned."

"Do you really need to explain this-"

"You asked." Jinsoul cut off Kim Lip's panicked protest. Heejin curiously glanced between the two of them, despite not knowing what was going on still itching to find out what was going on. "This is on you."

Dejected, Kim Lip quietened.

"Really, I hadn't seen it coming when I found out. I had underestimated Saerim's power -- or maybe I had overestimated yours-" slight disappointment tinted her voice, "-but she had somehow managed to seduce a young demon into a foolish deal disguised as a slave-contract-"

"As if you didn't sell your soul to one to-"

Kim Lip and Jinsoul shot out from their seats at the same time, the tension in the room thickening at once. Vivi reflexively stood too, a dangerous expression on her face as she glared at them with fiery, pink eyes. The three of them remained in a silent stand-off as Yerim fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat, and Hyunjin's hand clenched Heejin's.

It seemed as if the red-haired woman had managed to over-power them both, and sat down with no protest. It didn't do anything to stop them from glaring at one another across the table.

After calming down, Jinsoul sighed. "Saerim used Jungeun to spawn something more. Something that had only ever been mentioned in ancient scriptures cast away. Something no one was ever meant to find out about. A deity of some sorts." Heejin widened her eyes. This was not something that was in what she had read -- in fact, she was pretty sure that her parents were only aware of the existence of vampires and were hesitant on 'demons'. "She took part of its soul and fused it with herself so she'd have its power. A power so strong that even Saerim herself was afraid to say its name out loud -- and had never once managed to get it out before. Instead, she called it 'Yves'. And it became some kind of alter-ego inside of her that gave her more knowledge than what should have ever been granted to even a sanguisuge."

This was more than what she had signed up for. Granted, Heejin had never even consented to her involvement with vampires or demons, but she figured that with this new-found information she'd be able to go home and 'tap-out'. Maybe never even hear the mention of these powerful 'deities' that had been released into the world. Yes, she'd like to sit in the midst of her blankets with a cup of coffee in her hands and a drama playing on her laptop.

"Saerim and Yves wreaked havoc on earth -- even began murdering sanguisuges." Jinsoul met Vivi's eyes, and the two shared a knowing look. "The aftermath wasn't something very pretty. In fact, it resembled that poor woman's body."

"Could it be-" Vivi began, an idea sparking in her mind.

"No." Both Kim Lip and Jinsoul spoke at once.

"Saerim is gone." Jinsoul deadpanned, with all the confidence in the world. "I made sure of it."

Beside Heejin, Hyunjin opened her mouth. It looked like she wanted to ask something but quickly changed her mind and leaned back on the chair. There wasa troubled look on her face that she often made when she couldn't quite solve a question in class, her brows furrowing and her eyes glazing over in thought as her brain whirred and spun with possible answers. Heejin had always wondered what it was that she was thinking, and for a moment, a small voice in the back of her head told her that she had been discovered.

"You're being framed, then." Yerim concluded. The serious expression was back on her face, and Heejin now began to recognise it from when she had been caught in her own thoughts at school. "Both the syndicate and the government are aware of your ties with Saerim, right?" Jinsoul pensively stared at Yerim. (The government, Heejin's heart began to pick up pace in her chest, crap they knew that the government had information. Was that a good or bad thing for her?) "Either of them could have easily replicated the crime and placed the body in Hyunjin's apartment."

"The syndicate doesn't know that I'm back yet." Jinsoul slouched over the table, her fingers massaging at her temples. "If anything, it'd have to be the government... how else would they know that Hyunjin's involved with me? Maybe they saw me drop her off at school?"

Heejin's heart stopped in her chest.

All of a sudden, she didn't want to be holding Hyunjin's hand. The sweat that broke out in her own hand was enough to start giving red flags.

"Does that mean that they know Hyunjin's a sanguisuge?" Vivi asked, looking at the girl in question.

If what they were speculating were to be true, then...

No, Heejin hadn't been informed of this. If anything were to happen, she'd surely be told... right? She did have a large role to play in all of this. They wouldn't resort to murder...

"Jeon Heejin."

Heejin almost literally jumped out of her skin. She was able to disguise any facial expressions or careless tells she had been showing behind a calmer, steadier look. Momentarily, she thanked the fact that she had taken part in many acting classes or plays that happened at school, because under the pressure of Jinsoul's cold stare she was still able to maintain her image. Despite that, her heart continued to pound away in her chest.

"What were you doing at Hyunjin's apartment?" The suspecting question only sent alarms off in Heejin's head. For a second, she thought of her phone that she had left upstairs beside her clothes in exchange for Hyunjin's, and wondered if she'd be fast enough to get it before any of them discovered her.

"Unnie, Heejin wouldn't do that." Hyunjin stared darkly at Jinsoul, who immediately met her eyes with equal intensity.

In her chest, Heejin's heart broke a little. The amount of faith and belief that had seeped into the girl's voice showed exactly how much she trusted her, and Heejin almost wanted to seize her by the shoulders and shake her awake -- that she wasn't someone to be trusted and it'd be better for everyone if she just told her to get lost. It was getting harder to breathe the same air as the exact people she was tasked to betray -- how could she sit among them and pretend that nothing was wrong when she knew that so, so much was wrong? How could she still hold onto Hyunjin's hand when...

God, Heejin wanted to burst into tears the more she realised that Hyunjin hadn't really changed. She continued to have that underlying confidence beneath her words, and continued to look at her the same way as before. Even if she was a vampire, she seemed hell-bent on defending her title to other, more powerful vampires, and that alone made her feelings for her intensify by a tenfold.

Heejin was unworthy of Hyunjin's unconditional love.

"I'm sure she wouldn't," Jinsoul agreed easily, her gaze returning to Heejin's, "but I still would like to know exactly what she was doing there at that time."

Holding back what would have been an incriminating gulp to wet her dry throat, she hesitantly looked at Hyunjin to see what she thought. Her humane brown eyes regarded her with curiosity and a hint of vulnerability Heejin could only recognise after years by her side. And although the true reason of why she had been there was terribly embarrassing for her, she understood that this truth was the least of what Hyunjin deserved.

With a sigh, Heejin ducked her head slightly. "I was going to give Hyunjin the notes to all the classes she missed." It was obvious in the way that heat rushed to her face that she was mortified by the confession, and rightly so since she knew the motivation behind this. "While she was away, I took notes for her." And actually managed to learn something from them. "I know how much she cares about her studies, I-I didn't want her to be stressed..."

Stubbornly, Jinsoul kept her slightly narrowed eyes on her. Heejin's body was frozen tense in that same position, unwilling to give away any clues or hints that would light up the neon sign above her head pointing at her with the words 'liar' flashing on and off. It wasn't like she was lying about this, but she had a feeling that whatever the blonde was trying to get at was not what she was doing writing notes for Hyunjin, or whether she had murdered an innocent woman (she was sure everyone knew that she would never be capable of anything like that). No, the woman was most likely trying to see if there were any faults or fissures in her behaviour -- anything that would give away guilt or malicious intentions.

Beside her, Hyunjin just stared at her with a slightly surprised look on her face. Heejin hesitantly met her gaze, unsure of what the other would think of her after the confession. Both of them were aware that Heejin knew what Hyunjin was when she went absent for a couple of weeks. For Heejin to keep taking notes for her -- for a vampire-

"Listen to me," Jinsoul dangerously glared at her, "as soon as you step out of those doors," she pointed towards the main entrance that looked terribly inviting right now, "you will never mention any of this to anyone else."

Yerim looked like she wanted to protest, along with Hyunjin who protectively tightened her grip on her hand, but Kim Lip subtly placed a hand on her leg and slightly shook her head.

Heejin nodded meekly. The weaker she appeared, the less suspicious she'd be.

"I don't think she should stay any longer." Kim Lip interrupted the small staring contest between them, finally addressing her for the first time tonight. Normally, she'd smile warmly at her as a form of greeting, but the equally cold stare she received only managed to pummel her further into the ground. The chances of Kim Lip also growing suspicious of her were high, and she briefly cursed whoever it was that had chosen her for this task because it looked like she wouldn't last even a week amongst these women.

"No, I don't think she should, either." Hyunjin pushed away from the table, gently tugging her hand when she stood from her place. "Come with me, I'll walk you further into the city."

"I could drive her back." Vivi suggested, also beginning to stand.

"No-" Haseul's voice coming from the kitchen surprised the majority of them, and Heejin had almost forgotten that the woman had been there the whole time. She had rubber gloves tainted with blood on her small hands, and had apparently tied her hair back as much as she could with the inconvenient length. "-I need you to stay here so I can run tests and see if your fang shape matches the ones on the victim's neck."

At least they were genuinely confused about this, too, Heejin assured herself as she watched the exchange. This would prove their innocence in this murder... at least she hoped.

"Doesn't that mean that Hyunjin should stay, too?" Yerim pushed back from the table slowly, an unreadable look on her face as she did so.

"I'll be quick." Hyunjin slightly glared at Yerim before looking towards Jinsoul as if for permission. "It's just a walk closer to the city, I'll run back."

Jinsoul remained stoic, as if she were reluctant to let Hyunjin out of her sight. Heejin silently prayed that she'd just let up and allow them to leave. Heejin didn't want to overstay her 'welcome'.

"Please, Unnie, I need some fresh air." It seemed like Jinsoul had a soft spot for Hyunjin, because with a heavy sigh she waved them off.

-

"You wanted to give me notes?"

The air between them was tense, as if there was a force between them pointing out everything they didn't want to talk or think about with a big pointer and encouraging them to look at one another shyly. Heejin had never felt this awkward with Hyunjin before, and it was beginning to frustrate her in the way her brain would go hay-wire any time she stared at her too long. She didn't understand why they were reacting this way when they should have really seen this coming from a mile away (or why she was reacting this way when she had been aware of her feelings for a long time).

All that this tension was making her want to do was grab Hyunjin's face and kiss her until all of it was gone, because Hyunjin was meant to be that one person who she could always talk to with no filter.

"I-" Heejin blushed again when she remembered her small confession. This was terribly embarrassing -- especially since said notes were still in her backpack. "Yeah..."

Had she not felt the need to look at Hyunjin, she would have missed the small, victorious smirk that graced her lips. "I didn't know that you still cared about me enough to do that..."

That one stung. Although her chest ached at the slight dig, Heejin couldn't really say much to dispute it. Her reaction to Hyunjin's transformation hadn't exactly been the most warm, and she admitted that she had been terrified of her at first. But... "Of course I care about you." Heejin frustratedly grabbed at Hyunjin's elbow to stop her from walking on any further. "I'm not sure if I didn't make this clear enough already, but I care about you so much that I-"

Heejin stopped herself. No, she wasn't here to profess her love. This would not benefit anyone except her own selfish desires.

But with a curious, almost teasing, look, Hyunjin tilted her head at her. "That you..."

Both of them knew exactly where Heejin had been going with that, and although the slight tease made her want to punch her best friend in the chest, she was surprisingly glad that they were still able to maintain a playful atmosphere. With a blush, she pointedly looked away and continued walking.

"Why didn't you just give me the notes at school, then?" Hyunjin quickly tried catching up again, desperate not to be left behind.

"B-because-" Could she really say that? The truth was petty, and now that she thought about it, she really wanted to throw herself off a bridge for even reacting the way she did. But if she didn't, wouldn't she be lying? Hyunjin didn't deserve any more lies. "You accepted that Chaewon girl's offer to catch up on the classes..."

Oh god, Heejin never felt more stupid in her life. Acting like a jealous girlfriend? When they weren't even an item in the first place? She didn't own Hyunjin, she couldn't tell her what to do and what not to do. If she wanted to be tutored by some other girl instead of her own best friend then that was up to her.

Heejin grimaced at the automatic bitter thoughts that plagued her mind.

After the bout of silence (Hyunjin looked genuinely surprised) Heejin startled to a stop at the hand that had suddenly slipped into hers. "How about you teach me instead?" At the abruptly soft tone in Hyunjin's voice, Heejin looked at her with wide eyes. Her heart had fluttered in her chest and had subsequently skipped a beat, stealing the breath from her lungs and spotting her face a darker shade of pink.

The two stared at each other, Heejin searching for any hints of amusement in Hyunjin's eyes as the latter just smiled fondly at her. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and for a moment she found herself being able to relate to the main characters in the dramas who swooned over their love interest's simple words. It had just been an innocent offer, but Heejin's mind was already making up a million scenarios and playing them out in her mind, the movies titled: "this is what you could have if you just shoot your shot". She was sure that the sudden impulse that sparked from deep within her would serve as a pretty valid excuse.

Absently, she reached up to graze her fingers along the back of Hyunjin's jawline. The latter's eyes immediately dropped to her mouth, nervously glancing back up to her eyes for a silent assurance. Heejin dazedly stepped (stumbled) forwards into her space, enjoying the way she was hit with the scent of her freshly washed clothes and the way Hyunjin's pupils dilated (were her own eyes like that? Is that why Hyunjin was looking at her like that?).

Unlike their previous kiss (or kisses), Hyunjin slowly leaned towards her and hesitantly initiated this one. As soon as their lips brushed together, Heejin wanted nothing more than to speed up the process and just be closer to her. But she pushed that urge down and allowed Hyunjin to lead this one.

Hyunjin, Heejin found, had an addictive taste. Tentatively, Hyunjin moved her lips around her lower lip and suckled softly, making Heejin's head spin and her heart to stop for a second in her chest. With more confidence at every move, Hyunjin moved her free hand to hold at her waist and pulled her closer so that the cold of the night wouldn't be able to slip between them. And the more Heejin began to lose herself in the kiss, the more she began to craze over the warm sensation that had bloomed inside of her and had spread to the rest of her body. It made her fingers tremble as they brushed into Hyunjin's hair at the back of her head, holding her there and beginning to return the movements with her own.

This was the feeling that Heejin wanted to feel for the rest of her life. The feeling of being loved so unconditionally.

At the thought, Heejin gasped into the kiss. This was her person -- the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

With the small space that Heejin had created, Hyunjin sighed, their lips brushing as she moved them. "Heejin..."

Even the way she said her name...

Heejin wanted to cry. Cry at the feeling of being loved so fully and the feeling of loving so intensely.

Hyunjin pecked her lips one last time before leaning back. Heejin swallowed at the lump in her throat, wrapping her arms around her neck and hugging her tight. She wanted nothing more than to be closer to the other girl after the epiphany, before she was thrown back into the harsh reality that had become her life. She wanted to feel her best friend -- her love -- nuzzling into her hair every single day. She wanted to love her with no consequences waiting for her at home.

The buzz in her back pocket alerted her of her parents' arrival, and the realisation washed over her like a cold bucket of ice had been thrown at her. Heejin tightened her hold on Hyunjin -- as a profession of love, a form of apology -- before stepping back and smiling rigidly.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She assured, brushing her fingers on Hyunjin's cheek. Hyunjin nodded, grabbing her hand and moving it to her mouth so she could briefly kiss her fingertips before allowing it to fall back at her side.

Heejin's heart broke a little more.

She got into the back of a black car missing a number plate and parked in the shadows of a tree when she was sure that Hyunjin had disappeared from sight.

"So?" A deep, gravelly voice called from the driver's seat, professional and emotionless.

Heejin remained quiet, her jaw clenched as she thought back to the kiss.

"Any information on your friend?"

She clenched her eyes shut. She knew that if she didn't give them something, they'd begin to suspect her. She just hoped that it wouldn't cause too much damage. "She knows Jung Jinsoul. That's all."

A light, dainty, sickeningly victorious laugh from the passenger's seat. "What are the odds? I'll send a message to the board..." Then the woman spun in her seat, a prideful grin on her face that only made Heejin want to throw up in her seat. "Well done, sweetie, you did a good job."

From the driver's seat, her father nodded, starting the engine of the government's car. "We're proud of you, Heejin."

Of course, Heejin thought bitterly as she diverted her gaze outside of the window, tears brimming her eyes. They're only proud when I'm useful to them. They don't care about anything else.

Thought of Hyunjin clouded her mind, and the more she thought about her, the more she realised that whatever love she had had for her parents was beginning to give way under the weight of the pressure of what they were forcing her to do.

Using their own daughter as vampire bait?

Heejin hated them. But she hated herself even more.


	13. thirteen

Her nights had been plagued with images of the woman's body lying helplessly on the wooden floorboards looking gloatingly clean.

Images of the gashes sunken into her skin tearing open, inch by inch, until she was nothing more than a split body giving way to the dark, obsidian monster desperately crawling from her insides and out. Images of her bluish skin melting against the shaking palms of her hands and dissolving the body until all that was left was gruesome, fleshy mush too soft to be human. Images of the monster letting out a sickly, whirring sound that sounded like a mix of an old engine and a gargled growl before dashing towards her with the intent to tear out her vocal chords the same way the woman had died-

Heejin's eyes flew open.

The usually cute covers decorated with illustrated bunnies felt too hot on her body, and the pajama shirt was sticking to her neck and back unpleasantly.

In the darkness of her room she thought she felt something move around. Immediately, her hands gripped at the covers and screwed them between her fingers to prevent the itching scream seconds away from tearing out of her throat.

Her heart continued to beat harshly against her chest, her breath so labored that she had to part her dry lips to catch it before she passed out from dizziness. It only helped her realise how pasty the inside of her mouth felt -- as if there was a sponge sucking out all of the moisture, leaving her tongue feeling like sandpaper against the roof of her mouth.

Gathering up the courage to move from the safety of her bed, Heejin carefully pushed the covers off of her body and debated running toward the door.

It may have been a little pathetic, but she felt like a child again: fearful that there was a monster underneath her bed waiting to reach its filthy hand and wrap its long, sharp claws around her bare ankles the moment it saw her foot. Still, she realised that she was in her final year of high school and would be considered an adult in several months, so she had nothing to be afraid of. Because adults weren't afraid of anything. Adults weren't afraid of anything. Adults weren't afraid of anything...

She didn't blame herself when she scuttled across her bedroom and out of the door -- in fact, she forgot all about it as soon as she saw the light on in the kitchen to save her own dignity. (Even though she was likely the only person who would ever be aware of this moment.)

Soft voices coming from the kitchen were like voices directly from heaven telling her that everything would be alright, and that she didn't need to worry about monsters under her bed and in her dreams anymore. Truthfully, even with the recent discovery of her parents' profession and their slight change in their relationship, she still loved them the same as she did before and she still wanted to crawl into their arms for comfort. The only thing stopping her from doing that at that moment was the ongoing conversation.

Heejin treaded against the floorboards softly, her bare feet sticking to the surface to make that annoying sound whenever she wanted to sneak around her home.

"Jung Jinsoul, huh?" Her father seemed to be musing the name, as if shocked yet pleased with the piece of information.

"I know, I never thought we'd actually get to hear that name in our lifetimes." Her mother sounded just as bewildered as her father -- if not more. "I was beginning to believe the rumors that she was just a legend -- something the higher-ups made up to slow down the operation."

Heejin's brows began to pull together tightly. There was a pang in her chest, sending her heart racing once more but this time trying to run away from the guilt seeping into her body. She had thought that she would be able to evade their questioning by giving them a small, meaningless piece of information, but it seemed like she had just given them a deceivingly small grenade ready to detonate at a thousand mile radius.

There was a sigh, which she recognised from small silences at the dinner table and between pauses of endless typing on a laptop. "That only means that everything they said was true..." Her father trailed off, and Heejin stealthily moved closer to the doorway to hear better. "Oh god... Heejin was around that monster?"

"Jaejin, we knew what we were sending her to do when this started-"

"This is the same Jung Jinsoul we heard about, Chanhee -- the one that mutilated more than half of the sanguisuge population singlehandedly? Around our daughter?" Her father sounded completely outraged, and if what he was saying was right -- if Jinsoul had truly almost carried out a mass genocide -- he certainly had a right to be. (This only furthered her confusion as to why all the other women present that night weren't at all intimidated by the blonde woman... did that not mean anything to any of them? Did Hyunjin know?)

"Heejin is unharmed-" Her mother had always been the one to show the 'tough love'. "-and besides, she has the silver blade to protect herself if anything goes wrong. She's our daughter -- you and I both know where her strengths lie."

(Guess her mother would be very disappointed in her if she ever found out that she had left it at home despite her knowledge of Hyunjin being a sanguisuge herself.)

Another sigh, though this one sounded even more dejected than the last. "Are we bad parents?"

Heejin's breath halted in her lungs.

"...we are doing our job, Jin-ah," there was a slight tone in her mother's voice that told her she wasn't all too convinced, and for some reason she felt her whole body relax at the relief that her parents did care about her, "this job puts food on the table and a roof above our heads. Heejin can get into SNU because of this, and she can grow into the beautiful girl that we have been helping her to be. She won't need to rely on anyone but herself because of this."

"I know, but I'm just wondering if this is too far... she can't go to university if she's dead."

"Don't say that."

Her stomach lurched. Her father wasn't wrong; being around other beings that could literally replicate what had happened to the woman she had seen tonight at any second could eventually lead to her demise. Yet after tonight's events (the faint feeling of Hyunjin's lips pressed against hers still there even hours after) she wanted to have hope for the monsters her parents had made vampires out to be. Yerim had been extremely kind to her throughout the time that they knew each other, and by then she had already been a vampire who would have been able to kill her, but she never did. She had always been excessively kind.

There was still a chance, she thought. From the way her parents talked, there was still a chance of helping them see that not all vampires were savage monsters who had it out for humanity.

Heejin shuffled into the kitchen rubbing at her eye, her feet sliding against the marble tiles. Both of her parents jumped at the sight of her. The look of fear that flashed on their faces would have gone amiss had she not eavesdropped into their conversation, but now that she had that new piece of knowledge she could see the way they briefly met each other's eyes.

"What are you doing up so late?" Her mother questioned sternly, reverting back to her strict facade.

A small pout made its way onto her lips, and Heejin blinked sluggishly at both of her parents. "I couldn't sleep very well cause I'm thirsty." She thanked her voice for being able to sound so croaky, disguising the fact that she had been awake longer than she was implying. "Sorry..."

Her mother immediately softened and her father automatically moved to prepare a glass of water for her. Had it been any other night (where she hadn't just revealed a powerful vampire's identity to her parents that worked at the government and they hadn't just talked about her death mere seconds ago) they would have told her to go back to bed. Instead, her mother walked closer to her and pulled her into her arms.

When Heejin sunk into her body, she realised just how long it had been since she last received any affection from either of them. How unfamiliar it was to feel her mother's arms wrapped around her shoulders and her head resting against hers in an affectionate manner. Truly, she had no idea what to do with her arms -- if she should hug her back or if that would be too disrespectful. But the scent was something that she could recall from the pieces of clothing that she would give her during special events and she had to dress up for appearances, and even though she never had the best experiences at those events, they were still the only form of bonding she and her mother had shared in her adolescence.

Blinking back the tears pricking at her eyes, Heejin smiled tightly at her mother when she pulled back to look at her face.

"We are- so, so proud of you, Heekki." The words seemed to struggle on their way out, but they moved Heejin so much that she had to clench her fingernails into the palms of her hands to stop the tears from actually falling. This was the first sign of validation that her mother had ever given her.

Her father smiled lovingly, a sadness about his eyes as he handed her the glass of water. "We love you."

Heejin swallowed thickly. A small part of her thought that if she had to give more information in exchange from love from her parents, she would do it ten times over and more.

-

She still remembered the conversation the following morning when she was walking towards school. It had been in the back of her head, most of her thoughts preoccupied with Hyunjin, and what they would talk about today, and if she could hold her hand now.

But on the almost empty street stood a familiar figure, seemingly waiting for her specifically.

"...the one that mutilated half of the sanguisuge population single-handedly."

Heejin faltered a little, not having expected to see Jinsoul again so soon after yesterday. What could the woman possibly want with her when she was just one of Hyunjin's friends? For all she knew, she was just another human being who happened to know that she was a vampire, but she had to know that she wouldn't ever reveal that secret. At least that's what Heejin told herself as she walked up to the smartly dressed woman, a serious look on her face as she stared her down.

"Hello..." She timidly walked up to her so they stood a polite few feet away from one another. "If you're looking for Hyunjin, I haven't seen her yet..."

"I dropped her off." Jinsoul deadpanned, her tone of voice causing her to physically cower back in on herself.

It took all of Heejin to not let out a daft 'oh' and let the conversation die. Instead she laughed breathlessly and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Then I should probably go meet her, I told her that I'd see her early today so."

"What do you want with Hyunjin?" The sudden question threw her off-guard, and suddenly Heejin was blinking at the vampire in mild disbelief. Her tone had been defensive, and slightly accusatory as if she were talking to someone who wanted to actually hurt Hyunjin. Which was just absurd, because hurting Hyunjin was the last thing on her mind after the events of the previous night and the fact that this woman had the audacity to even suggest anything like that...

"I could ask you the same thing." She straightened her posture, glaring back into the surprisingly human brown eyes with all of the strength she could muster. (Honestly, she was just proud she had actually managed to say a sentence that actually had even the slightest trickle of confidence.) If this woman thought she could just barge into Hyunjin's life, turn her into one of those horrible things that she had read in the books, and then turn around and try to push her, Hyunjin's best friend, out of her life, then she had another thing coming for her.

Jinsoul made a 'tch' sound, averting her eyes as if she couldn't believe her. Which was very ironic because Heejin was just thinking the same thing. A cold, chilling glare was what froze her like a deer in headlights. "Hyunjin is under my care now." Heejin's fingers twitched at the slight possessiveness in her voice. "Which means she is my responsibility, which means that if anything happens to her - anything - I will hunt the person who hurt her down and I will..." she paused, choosing her words carefully before giving a pleasant smile, "deal with them."

A chill ran down Heejin's spine as she remembered her father's words. She didn't doubt that the vampire could actually do that to her.

Like what happened to the woman from yesterday night...

"Well-" Heejin cleared her throat, trying to find any trail of that confidence she had felt earlier. "-I won't hurt her. I l-care for her."

Disbelievingly, Jinsoul squinted her eyes at her. "You seemed pretty calm last night." The change of subject almost gave Heejin whiplash, and she sluggishly tried processing what was going on. When she didn't react favorably, the blonde shifted her weight onto her leg and eyed her up and down. "For someone who just discovered a dead body, and that sanguisuges are real, you seemed to be handling it pretty well."

Heejin didn't know how to respond to that. What was she supposed to say? Was this a trick question to catch her out? Of course, how could she have forgotten her task as a bait for Hyunjin? But what could she say? That she had read up the history of vampires in the history books from her parents' office who, oh yeah, worked for the government? The very people who were viewed as the enemy?

"Hyunjin already proved that vampires were real - when she cornered me in the alleyway." Before she could let herself be proud of the pretty convincing lie, Jinsoul quickly cut her off.

"And you're not scared of her?" Jinsoul took a step closer, she stumbled a step back. "You're not terrified at the prospect of her going wild - absolutely savage - and tearing your throat open with just her teeth? Like the monsters that people think we are? Would you be scared if you saw her after feeding? The crimson blood on the same mouth that you-"

"I'm not scared of her." Her voice shook. Whether it was a lie or not, neither of them knew it. All Heejin wanted to do was shut Jinsoul up, because images of the woman's dead, mauled body were resurfacing in the front of her mind and all she could think was her in that position instead, and the black, obsidian monster crawling out morphing into Hyunjin's face and- "I'm not scared of her, because I know that she wouldn't hurt me on purpose."

Something flashed across Jinsoul's face. Heejin didn't know how to read it, but all she knew was that she had said something that wasn't what the blonde had hoped for. With a raised eyebrow, Jinsoul looked her up and down as if she were judging the quality of a piece of meat, and Heejin had never felt more uncomfortable than in that moment.

"What's your blood type?"

Heejin balked. What the hell was up with all of these rapid changes in conversation? "Wh-what are you trying to find out? Why does that have any relevance to what we were talking about?"

Jinsoul made a show of scrunching her nose before tipping her head to the side. "You smell like an A-type," Heejin backed away further, beginning to grow properly fearful of the situation, "but there's something about it - it doesn't smell the same as the others." For a good moment, Heejin considered taking the silver blade out of her pocket and making use of it just as her parents had instructed her to do if she ever felt herself be in danger. "Tell me, did you do something to it? Try to enhance it so it would smell better? Do humans have that technology?"

She had no idea what she was talking about. Her blood was normal - just like any other humans. That's what her doctor check-ups told her and she doubted they would ever lie to her under the oath they had to take.

Heejin's hand began to reach for the strap of her backpack, wary of the closing distance between them. "I have no idea what you're talking about." If Jinsoul took another step closer, she was scared that she'd be coerced into using her blade. And the last thing she wanted was to have someone else's blood on her hands -- not after what had happened that night.

In the distance, she caught sight of her old homeroom teacher trudging along the sidewalk with his hands shoved into his suit, and saw a perfect excuse to get away.

"If you'll excuse me," she used the voice her mother taught her to use whenever they were around important figures, though she knew this time she was aiming for condescending rather than pleasant, "I have something to discuss with my teacher."

The closest that Heejin allowed herself to Jinsoul was a mere shoulder brush, though even that sent the hairs on the back of her neck rising. She refused to look back to make her point clear, her strides confident and purposeful as she made her way to her teacher, desperate to reach him to get away from the vampire. Relief filled her entire body as he noticed her going his way, smiling back at him tightly with her hand clenched around the strap of her bag. The pressure of the handle underneath her hand made her stomach drop.

"Good morning, Heejin, what are you doing here so early?" He grinned joyously, as he always did whenever he saw any of his favorite students. Heejin was reminded once again why she liked him so much, and she dropped her hand from her bag and instead tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Morning Choi-saeng. I was just going to meet Hyunjin, but I was held up by..." When she turned to look at Jinsoul's terrifying figure, she found an empty street. Restraining the temptation of widening her eyes, she instead faced her teacher again with a sheepish smile. "I can't remember. I always get too distracted."

The man laughed loudly, shaking his head as if it were an inside joke. "I see you haven't changed." Continuing his trek to the school gates, Heejin followed after him, desperate not to be left alone once more. "How are you and Hyunjin doing? Does she still have her head buried in the books?"

A more natural smile graced Heejin's face, and she was grateful for the chosen subject of conversation to distract her from the stress of the past several hours' events. "Of course, she wouldn't be Hyunjin if she didn't."

She cared about Hyunjin, she told herself, she wouldn't hurt her.

-

Admittedly, she'd barely had enough time to talk to Hyunjin before classes began again, and by then she was already sitting beside Jeno. Jeno was kind and funny, and he struggled with just as much as she did, but he wasn't Hyunjin and he would never be her.

Unlike the previous day, Heejin found herself glancing back more times than what would have been deemed normal, and each and every time she found her heart shriveling up with jealousy.

Chaewon had moved her seat beside Hyunjin with the excuse that she was helping her catch up to the work she had missed out (Hyunjin was extremely smart, she didn't need her help) and the two were sitting elbow to elbow on the desk. At the slightest glance from Hyunjin, the girl's face would flood with a blush that Heejin hated to admit was pretty adorable, and she would give a small, timid smile which Hyunjin would return. Anyone would be able to tell that the girl was practically enamored by Hyunjin, and all it did was tick her off the more she thought about it.

But could she blame Chaewon?

For some reason, ever since she returned from her month long break, Hyunjin appeared to have changed in the most drastically subtle ways -- and it was working wonders for her. Maybe it was the way her dark hair carelessly fell over her shoulder that made her want to run her fingers through the long strands, and how her eyes had somehow become sharper than they were before to accent the clear almond and long eyelashes. It made her heart do constant laps around her chest like a dog chasing its tail. And even if she had thought that Hyunjin had been beautiful before the accident had happened, she had to admit that there was something about the... suave and aloof atmosphere that suited her the best.

Clenching her jaw, Heejin did her best to suck it up and focus on the lesson instead.

It was around lunchtime that they were released from the confines of their classroom, and Heejin leaned back to roll her neck to relieve herself of the pressure that had accumulated there.

Excited to finally have time to talk to Hyunjin, she turned around to smile at her and ask her if she wanted to get lunch together.

Instead, she was met with a crowd of students beginning to swarm her intended target's desk, all eagerly trying to start a conversation with her. A frown marred Heejin's features, matching the one of Hyunjin's face as she tried addressing them all one at a time. Beside her, Chaewon looked like she was experiencing some kind of panic attack from the pressuring of other students accidentally bumping into her constantly. (Heejin had the heart to sympathise with her.)

"Looks like Hyunjin got popular." Jeno said beside her, also looking back at the commotion. There was a mirthful smirk on his face, but Heejin knew that he meant no harm with the innocent glint in his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess she did..." Heejin watched as Hyunjin gave an awkward, stiff smile and took off to disappear out of the classroom door, looking like she wanted nothing more on earth than to get out of that situation. Several students also followed after her, taking it as their cue to leave since their object of affection had departed. (Heejin did the same.) "I'll see you later."

There was nothing else on Heejin's mind but to talk to Hyunjin, though she did meet Chaewon's eyes on the way out and hesitantly shot her a smile. (The girl seemed relatively harmless, there was no point in hurting her.) When she looked down the busy hallways, she couldn't see Hyunjin's familiar figure, though she doubted that the latter would have wanted to stick around with all of the attention she was receiving. It didn't stop her from being slightly saddened at the thought of her wanting to get away from her.

Before she could let herself sink too deeply in her emotions, she followed a familiar trail that they used to take whenever Hyunjin would relent and allow her to drag her away from the books. She hoped that this would be the same destination on the other girl's mind.

Their school had an area of green near the soccer field, and even though it was the perfect spot to hang out and forget about the stress of school, many people couldn't be bothered to make the trek there and back in time for class. Heejin, though, was willing to walk whatever distance it took to have Hyunjin's full attention -- not the absent-minded attention she would get whenever there was any piece of homework within an arms reach.

Heejin saw Hyunjin making her way in that direction, and a small smile tugged at her lips.

"Hey." She said, treading through the grass carefully towards Hyunjin, who had slumped back against a tree shading them from the sun's glaring eyes. She looked really, really beautiful.

Hyunjin observed her with unreadable eyes as she took a seat beside her, looking like she was thinking of something. Heejin felt her ears begin to heat up slightly, but she payed no mind to it as she stared back into the other girls eyes seemingly unfazed. Relief spread through her when Hyunjin gave a familiar grin, relaxing against the uncomfortable tree trunk. "I had a dream like this."

Blinking dumbly, Heejin's lips parted. "What?" She looked around at the atmosphere around them: the field of grass stretching out to meet the school building, and the tree looming over them to cast a cool shade. "In school?"

"No," Hyunjin looked away, a sudden sense of uneasiness in her facial expression, "but it was like this. And you were there."

They sat in silence, letting the crisp summer wind brush past them. This was most likely the calmest Heejin had been in a long time, her heart sitting quietly in her chest and her mind clear of previous rabid thoughts that had been driving her insane. Having Hyunjin beside her was just something she had grown used to over the years that they knew each other, and having her here beside her again was like returning to her natural environment. It felt right.

Heejin noticed Hyunjin's hand resting beside her on the grass, the small distance between hers taunting her exasperatedly. Would Hyunjin be bothered if she took her hand? Truthfully, she had no idea what their relationship was after the previous night. She wanted to be close to Hyunjin, but a small part of her told her that that wouldn't be the best idea. Still, she couldn't help but fantasise about what the possibilities of being with Hyunjin could bring, and all of it brought a smile to her face. She just wondered if Hyunjin would want the same thing.

"Are you... okay? After yesterday?" Hyunjin angled her head to look at her.

Thoughts of them kissing filled her mind but she quickly shook the thoughts out of her mind. "Uhm... I think so..." At the look of worry on her face, Heejin quickly gave a reassuring grin. "I'm okay, you don't have to worry about me. What about you? It was your apartment, after all."

Hyunjin sighed, closing her eyes slightly. "Jinsoul-unnie said that my parents are fine -- my father was on a business trip and my mother was visiting my aunt, so they weren't there when it happened."

"I'm glad." Heejin bit at her lip uncertainly, wondering if she should say anything or not. "I saw Jinsoul-ssi this morning, actually."

"What?" Hyunjin straightened her back, looking at her with a mixture of worry and curiosity. "Did she do anything to you? If she did I'll just have to talk to her and-"

"No, no," she shook her head, briefly touching Hyunjin's arm in a feeble attempt to calm her down (but glad that she had been receptive to her touch), "just said some things... how I shouldn't tell anyone I know about... vampires and all that."

A blank look overcame Hyunjin's features, similar to the one she would get whenever she was deep in thought and would make Heejin wonder what exactly she was thinking about and what was going on in her mind. When she looked at her like this -- facial features completely soft and that vulnerable tint in her human-like eyes -- there was nothing that gave away the fact that she was what she was. In fact, Heejin had almost forgotten all about it had it not been for the topic of their conversation.

"And... how do you feel about - you know - vampires?"

Heejin could audibly hear the slight shake in Hyunjin's voice as she let the words out. She remembered the way she had called herself a monster last night -- as if she had actually meant the words full-heartedly -- and the way she had tried to push her away with that explanation. She had always hated it when Hyunjin self-deprecated herself, but she couldn't say she didn't understand where she was coming from.

Without thinking, her eyes dropped to Hyunjin's mouth. She could still remember how she had looked when she had bared her sinfully sharp teeth at her, the wild look in her yellow eyes petrifying her in place and the predatory grip keeping her from running as if she were prey. But she'd had plenty of opportunities to repeat that again, and even though yesterday she'd willingly presented her neck for her, Hyunjin hadn't bitten her skin and torn a flesh out of her like the woman they had found on the floor.

Her head swam a little, but with as much control as she could, she gently cupped Hyunjin's jaw and leaned in closer. The surprised gasp that left Hyunjin's lips made her heart skip in her chest, and she hesitantly looked up at her eyes to check if she was as okay with this as she was.

Hyunjin seemed completely transfixed by her lips, and it was her that closed the final distance between them.

Heejin let out the air she had been trapping in her lungs through her nose, exhaling noisily as Hyunjin leaned back again.

"You wouldn't hurt me, right?" Her voice was thick, threatening to break and embarrass her in front of her crush. In the palm of her hand, Hyunjin softly shook her head in denial. "Then I trust you. No matter what you are."

Hyunjin pulled an arm around her waist, hoisting her closer with ease and meeting her lips again.

Heejin kissed the wide grin on the other girl's face, trying to hold back her own smile as Hyunjin almost physically exuded happiness with the way her hand was tightly gripping at the back of her blazer and while the other trembled to touch her neck. She could feel the warmth of her body beneath the weight of her hand resting comfortably on her chest and from their legs which had pressed together as they sat side by side underneath the tree.

A quiet laugh left Heejin's lips when Hyunjin bumped their foreheads together by accident in her eagerness to return her affection. The girl, self-conscious of her clumsiness, shyly hid her face in her neck and mumbled a small "shut up".

It felt like everything was perfectly in place. Heejin could stay there with Hyunjin in her arms for the rest of her life, and she could have all the happiness in the world in doing so.

They remained in that position for a while, their chests rising and falling together while the summer breeze continued to chill their skin and brush their hair. Beneath her, the grass served as a soft, comfortable surface, and the bark of the tree wasn't too rough on her skin when she leant back against it. Having Hyunjin's soft, warm breaths hitting the column of her neck calmed her instantly, and she let her arms wrap loosely around her back to keep her there, resting against her body.

When her eyes began to grow heavy, her head rested heavily against Hyunjin's.

"Wait." Heejin almost whined in annoyance when the girl pulled back, but restrained from doing so to stop herself from sounding so needy.

Hyunjin pulled back and began shuffling around. She shrugged her blazer off of her frame (Heejin watched curiously, admiring her appearance while doing so) and bundled it up before putting it directly behind her lower back. Testing out the position, Hyunjin leaned backwards and forwards until she found one that was comfortable, resting her head against the bark of the tree to look at her with a lazy grin on her face.

"Here." She patted her thigh, gesturing for Heejin to come and sit in her lap. "You look tired. I'll wake you up when we have to go back."

A light blush tinged her cheeks, but Heejin timidly approached her.

It was a little uncomfortable at first, both of them laughing as they struggled to find a position comfortable for the both of them, but eventually Heejin sunk back into Hyunjin's warm body and closed her eyes. Having the feeling of Hyunjin's arms wrapped around her waist protectively allowed her to feel a security that her bed back at home couldn't provide, and the chin resting on the side of her head told her that Hyunjin wouldn't be letting go any time soon.

Gratefully, she interlaced their fingers together and allowed herself to drift off for some much needed sleep.

-

They had agreed to walk home together after school, and that they'd meet at the front of the school to avoid any other people coming to bother them.

In between the times that this agreement had been made and when she'd meet Hyunjin, she received a text message from her parents:

'Bring the target back home.'

All the previous thoughts had been smacked out of her head and the serenity that had come over her was ripped off at once, replaced by a tense sensation that reminded her what her task was from the very beginning.

Dread had settled in her chest, her heart heavy with the responsibility of betraying her lover (that was weird to think about). She knew very well what the consequences would be if she didn't comply with her parents' orders, and that small part of her that had been objecting her every move reminded her of the sensation she got when she was being accepted by her parents.

The confirmation that they loved her.

Heejin swallowed the poisonous guilt as she made her way towards Hyunjin, who seemed to be talking with a still shy-looking Chaewon.

Really, she didn't want to feel jealous. It would be tremendously hypocritical and wrong for her to feel as if though she had any rights to be possessive over Hyunjin when she had a secret agenda all along. But she couldn't help it when Hyunjin gave Chaewon a teasing grin, saying something in all Hyunjin style, causing the other girl to giggle (albeit a bit nervously).

It felt like she was being torn apart from the inside; one part of her wanted nothing more than to scrap her stupid duty and be with Hyunjin the way they had been at the field, while another acknowledged her responsibility and the high hopes her parents had for her to carry this task out.

She just wanted to have a break from it all.

When she approached the two, Hyunjin's eyes brightened and she smiled softly. Her arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her into her body in a sort of hug, sort of proprietorial hold. "Hey."

Heejin warily glanced at Chaewon, who's smile had been wiped off of her face. Good, she thought before she could stop herself.

"Hey," she focussed instead on Hyunjin, alleviating the stress in her mind a little more, "should we go?"

Hyunjin nodded, but glanced between Heejin and Chaewon uncertainly.

Oh god, what was she thinking now?

"I was just wondering if Chaewon could come along with us, too?"

Heejin's heart stopped in her chest. She did her best to contain the freezing, cold shoot of jealousy that ran through her entire body and tried rationalising that she shouldn't be reacting like this when Chaewon hadn't done anything to her.

Yet, a part of her cut in.

With the kindest smile she could muster, she observed the way Chaewon ducked her head to have her curtain of black hair shield her face, as if ashamed that this was even suggested. "Of course." Heejin eased her expression into one of welcoming when she met the girl's eyes. "We should go get some drinks, I've had a long week."

Hyunjin gratefully squeezed her shoulders, dropping her arm to hold her hand instead. (It soothed the jealousy a little, which she was thankful for.)

She observed Chaewon carefully, watching as she visibly brightened at her words as if they were the best thing she'd ever heard. Something wasn't right with her.

But then again, something wasn't right with her either.


	14. fourteen

'Heejin, confirm.'

Heejin regarded the nauseating text message on her phone. She could feel her mother's stern look through the phone screen, and it was making her heart beat uneasily in her chest the more she mulled over the words. Maybe if she stared at the words long enough, she'd be able to will them away and pretend as if they had never existed in the first place.

Raucous laughter brought her out of her stupor, and Heejin looked up from her place beside the arcade's counter in time for her to witness Hyunjin clumsily stumble over her feet on the Dance Dance Revolution machine, a bright grin on her face. Vampire or not, Hyunjin still looked like she struggled with the hardest level of the game, and she knew that the ambitious girl had just selected the hardest level because she wanted to prove to everyone that she was capable of completing it. Never mind her apparent disdain for dance in the past.

Beside her, Chaewon appeared to have completely given up with trying, instead watching Hyunjin scuffle against the machine's choreography with an equally alive smile on her red face.

Heejin was a people person, which meant that it didn't take her long to find something good in a person and take a liking to them. No matter how much the green eyed monster residing within her wanted to absolutely despise the small girl, even she could see the charm to her soft facial features and round eyes. It had taken a couple of drinks from the bubble tea shop that Chaewon had suggested going to (which they bonded over, because Heejin was also fond of the particular drink) and Hyunjin doing her best to find a conversation topic they could all relate to for Chaewon's personality to actually start coming out. And Heejin couldn't deny that the slight quips she came up with were startlingly out of character yet unexpectedly fitting with the teasing glint in her eyes.

Chaewon brushed her sleek, black hair behind her ears as Hyunjin proceeded to complete a difficult combo, amusement playing all over her features. The look of concentration of Hyunjin's face as she glared holes through the game's screen made a fond smile appear on Heejin's face, a completely new side of Hyunjin being revealed to her.

Would she have been able to see this side of Hyunjin had the accident not happened? Would Heejin have found herself falling even more in love with every version of Hyunjin had she not become a vampire?

Her grip on her phone tightened and she promptly swiped at the screen to discard the message. She didn't need to be thinking about that right now.

Making her way over to the two girls, she mirthfully stood beside a panting Chaewon to watch Hyunjin give it her all to finish the loud electronic song. The smaller girl looked down at her from her place on the platform, a slight look of discomfort crossing her face before melting into a meek smile, which Heejin returned just as uncertainly.

"I bought you guys drinks since you look like you just ran a marathon." Heejin held up the cool bottle of water perspiring small droplets sliding off of the surface.

"Oh... you didn't have to..." Ducking her head shyly to let her dark hair cover her face, Chaewon avoided her gaze.

She let herself roll her eyes at the unnecessarily modest reaction, though she did so in a fond manner rather than the exasperated one she would have reacted with just two hours ago. "Just take it, or do you want my money to go to waste?"

As if it couldn't get any worse, Chaewon widened her eyes in a panic and let them dart between the bottle and her face. "Oh no, I'm so sorry- I can pay you back, I have money in my bag-"

Heejin laughed a little, honestly stunned that anyone could be this awkward yet adorable at once. "Just take it, Park." She shoved the bottle of water into the girl's flailing hands, firmly helping her curl her fingers around the bottle as it seemed that the girl wouldn't do so herself. "Or I'll just have to beat you up later..." She winked at her just to let her know she was joking (the look of pure fear on Chaewon's face was enough to tell her that she at least intimidated her) before moving around Hyunjin's side.

Looking up at her, Heejin watched as beads of sweat trickled from her hairline and down into the collar of her school shirt from the exertion. Her feline eyes reflected the light from the screen, looking like she had an entire cosmos hidden in them as they squinted slightly to concentrate better on the patterns. Heejin just admired the way her concentration would break whenever she messed up particularly bad on a combo and the polar opposite expression (a wide, childish smile that almost pushed her eyes closed) would overtake her face.

As the song came to a finish, Hyunjin let herself slump off of the platform with a, "whoop!"

Heejin instinctively wrapped her arm around her waist to prevent her from completely collapsing against her, grimacing when she felt the sweat seeping through her school shirt. "You had way too much fun with that one."

As if shining, Hyunjin met her gaze with a youthfulness Heejin had never seen her wear before. "So much fun." Standing up straight, Hyunjin wrapped her arm around her shoulders and leaned in slightly, sending Heejin's mind into slight panic at the thought that she was going to kiss her out there, in the open for everyone to see. "The most fun I've had since I can remember."

The slight dark, meaningful tone in her voice made Heejin's face melt in understanding. Hyunjin most likely hadn't had it easy since she was turned, but even before that she was restricted to the confines of her books, study sessions and homeworks she cared way too much about. In fact, seeing her like this just made Heejin wish she had done a better job at getting her to loosen her tight grip on her studies and get her to hang out with her like this. (Maybe not at dangerous college parties.)

Hyunjin gratefully took the bottle of water Heejin offered her, regarding her with a slow, emotional look before lightly brushing their fingers together as a 'thanks'. She turned around to face Chaewon, who looked like she was doing her best to mind her own business. (She wasn't doing a very good job by the looks of it -- Heejin could see the slight tint to her cheeks that didn't come from her dancing, and the pained look in her eyes didn't go amiss either.) "It's easy to say that I beat you." Hyunjin loudly stated, pride written all over her entire being.

"This was your choice -- if we play 'The House of the Dead 4' you have no chance against me."

Heejin amusedly watched as Chaewon's personality came out, enough competitiveness in her bones to put up a fight against Hyunjin's own prideful spirit. She had mentioned the particular arcade game on their way over, but after seeing the poster out in front, Hyunjin had grimaced and done her best to avoid it. Heejin was perfectly aware of her opinions on horror games and gore, which was pretty ironic considering... well.

"Whatever, I guess we'll never get to find out, huh?" Hyunjin dramatically raised her chin, pretending to look snobbish.

Chaewon pouted just as dramatically, twisting the bottle of water in her hands. "Please? I haven't played in so long."

"Tch, you can't convince me with your act." Hyunjin mock sneered, her upper lip raising to reveal her sharp canines.

"Hyun's just scared of horror," Heejin butted in, glancing at Hyunjin's surprised face and Chaewon's quickly grinning one, "I can bet all of my money that you'd beat her ass."

"Heejin!" Hyunjin turned to her with betrayal marring her features, holding her bottle close to her chest in mock-offense. "I can't believe you would throw me under the bus like that! I thought we had something special."

Heejin affectionately rolled her eyes, lightly pushing Hyunjin away from her. "Shut up, idiot, you know I'm right."

Pretending to be shot in the stomach, Hyunjin leaned over and reached out for Chaewon. "She called me an idiot... Chae, I can't stand this slander, help me..."

Heejin clenched her jaw when the bitterness began to toil in her chest again at the sight of Hyunjin holding onto Chaewon's hand, the two of them jokingly laughing together and grinning as if they were sharing an inside joke. Once again, she had to remind herself that it wasn't right of her to be possessive over Hyunjin when she literally had messages on her phone in her pocket telling her to betray her. On top of that, after getting to know Chaewon a bit better, she could understand why Hyunjin liked her so much (even that made her feel a little dejected) and really had nothing to hold against her.

She smiled back at Hyunjin when the latter regarded her again, but even she could tell it wasn't as genuine as it was a couple of seconds ago.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom for a second." Heejin excused herself, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Hyunjin straightened, her grin slowly fading from her face and being replaced with worry. "I'll find you afterwards, don't worry." She said as convincingly as possible, reassuring Hyunjin with a soft smile.

As soon as she had lost sight of them behind the rows of arcade games, her expression crumbled into a grimace, depicting her discomfort outwardly. It was slightly relieving being able to display her emotions for once, but she knew that it had no right to remain on her face as long as Chaewon kept being a nice person.

Heejin wandered around for a while, lost in her own thoughts, before sitting herself down on one of the empty car games to rest her legs.

If she were to go against her parents' bidding, what would they say? How would they react if they knew that their daughter had not only fallen in love with a vampire, but another girl at that?

Maybe if she just talked about it with them they could come to an understanding -- one that wouldn't involve Heejin betraying her lover and completely breaking the trust that they had built up over the last several years together. If they agreed, she'd be able to tell Hyunjin everything: what her parents were planning for her to do and that she was in danger; that she wanted nothing to do with their sickly plans and had done her best to weasel out of them; that she loved her and wanted to be with her even if it meant giving up her humanity-

It scared Heejin: the lengths at which she would go to just to be with Hyunjin. To be with her in a way that made her happy -- both of them happy -- and to live freely in a way she had never been able to do in her life.

But then she remembered what her parents had said to her.

"If we don't do this, we don't know what may happen to us. To you."

It was smart, Heejin had to admit, using her love for them and her need to have their reciprocating love back against her to force her into something so horrible. Something that she wouldn't be able to do without the extra 'motivation'. Despite knowing exactly what they were doing, she could do nothing to stop them, because they were right: she did love them, and the last thing she wanted was something bad happening to them because of her.

Her heart was torn, and her head was aching from just how many times she kept going over every scenario possible to satiate both sides. She had probably been gone for longer than was necessary -- maybe Hyunjin was starting to worry about her.

Heejin looked up and at that moment caught sight of a familiar figure walking down the same aisle where she was. She stood wordlessly and followed after her, something telling her that she should be treading carefully. It was the school uniform that confirmed it for her, the familiar brown hair just another extra to help her distinguish who it was.

Before she could reach out to tap her shoulder, Heejin found herself being rapidly pushed back against one of the arcade machines by a forearm against her chest, the back of her head almost knocking back against the metallic surface had she not tensed completely.

Really, she had to stop getting herself in situations like these.

"Heejin?" Yerim widened her eyes when she registered who it was, immediately removing herself from her and anxiously grabbing her by the shoulders to check if she hurt her. "What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me?"

Heejin grimaced at the pressure imprinted along her chest, rubbing a hand along it in an attempt to soothe the pain. "What, no 'unnie'?" She watched carefully as Yerim's face fell slightly, her movement halting as they just stared at one another carefully.

Admittedly, Heejin felt a little betrayed that Yerim hadn't told her anything about being a vampire or anything, but she had quickly gotten over it when she rationalized that it would have been an unwise move to tell someone that you survived off of blood in order to live. Still, the idea that Yerim -- of all people -- was part of that life-style was a little dumbfounding and would take a while to get used to.

"You're not mad at me?" Yerim asked sheepishly, cowering a little in her place as she removed her hands from her body like a child being scolded for touching something they shouldn't have. This was exactly why Heejin couldn't stay angry at the other for very long; she was far too soft and adorable to ever have bad intentions to hurt her. And perhaps the fact that she had already gone through the whole process of accepting Hyunjin being a vampire herself helped her understand Yerim's position and the fact that she was only doing what she had to do to survive. Just like she was doing.

Heejin smiled gently at her. "Yeah, you just slammed me into... a Mario Kart game, of course I'm gonna be mad."

When Yerim realized that Heejin wasn't angry at her, she rushed to wrap her arms around her and pull her into a classic 'Choi Yerim' hug, which consisted of lifting her slightly from the ground and squeezing her entire body tightly. "I am so sorry, Unnie. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but you have to understand that it's illegal for humans to know about sanguisuge and they don't usually take it very well when they learn that the vampires from the stories are real and it's not like Lippie-unnie would have let me tell you anyway and I'm just glad that you don't completely hate my guts."

After writhing her arms out of the tight grip, Heejin wrapped them around Yerim's shoulders to reciprocate the hug. When she pulled back, though, she frowned a little at Yerim. "What do you mean it's 'illegal'? And why are you shoving people into arcade games?"

Sheepishly, Yerim fixed her hair with nervous hands. "Well... the history of the syndicate goes back quite a long time ago, so..."

Before either of them could say much else, they took notice to Chaewon hesitantly slowing her walk down the otherwise empty aisle, a pale expression on her face. Heejin watched carefully as her eyes agitatedly darted between both of them, straying a little longer on Yerim who had an equally grim look on her previously livened features.

"You know Chaewon, Yerim-ah?" Heejin asked carefully, unsure of their relationship for them to react in such a manner to one another.

Yerim hummed unsurely for a couple of seconds, shifting her weight unevenly before looking back at her with a weak grin. "Yeah, we used to go to the same middle school together." There was something behind her suddenly lively expression that rubbed Heejin the wrong way, though she was reluctant to push for more answers with the utterly distraught look that Chaewon had on her face. She didn't want the other girl to burst into tears suddenly and have Hyunjin think she did something to her.

"Oh. Well..." Heejin awkwardly let the atmosphere simmer, the tension in the air making her want to run away from the situation as fast as she could. "I guess there's no point in me introducing the two of you then."

Yerim cleared her throat, shaking her head. "No... we- we know each other pretty well." She said vaguely.

Heejin narrowed her eyes at her junior. They had just established that she was a vampire, which meant that she didn't age. Maybe Yerim had just recently been turned like Hyunjin and had gone to middle school with Chaewon before anything happened to her, she thought to herself. The chances of Chaewon knowing about Yerim's nature were zero percent, but that didn't explain the tension between the two of them.

"There you are, we've been looking all over..." Hyunjin came to a stop behind Chaewon as she took in the scene in front of her, her worry shifting into something unreadable. "Choerry."

As if the whole thing couldn't just get any more tense, it felt like the air was sucked out of the room and the pressure was crushing at Heejin's head. That was a name she had only heard Yerim being addressed as last night when they had been with all of the other vampires, and Hyunjin saying it so carelessly with a slight acidic tone of voice was just practically exposing her to the rest of the world. She didn't quite understand why there was an animosity between the two, and neither did she understand why Chaewon's eyes widened when she heard the name as if she knew what it would symbolize. But she did know that it was all adding fuel to the fire, creating a suffocating atmosphere.

"Hello, Hyunjin." Yerim smiled tightly, the faux politeness contradicted by the flame in her eyes. Heejin frowned at her, trying to get her attention for an explanation but being completely ignored.

"What are you doing here?" Hyunjin asked.

The scenario reminded Heejin of two dominant animals struggling for control, doing their best to establish their power over the situation. Was this how two vampires interacted?

"I just bumped into Heejin-unnie-" an understatement, Heejin thought, "-and Chaewon-unnie. Didn't expect to find them here. Didn't expect to find you here."

Hyunjin bristled, straightening her posture and puffing her chest out to display confidence. Heejin watched, admiring the way the white button up shirt fitted her figure perfectly and her hair stuck to her still slightly sweaty skin on her neck. She didn't know what had overcome her, but it felt as if she were in a daze.

The two stared each other off, fighting a silent battle that neither one of them seemed to be willing to lose. She had expected the stubbornness from Hyunjin, but found it was pretty surprising to see that Yerim was unwilling to give up any time soon like she would have had it been just the two of them battling over who got the last snack. This was why she hated being in the dark during situations like these.

"Y-Yerim, can I talk to you?"

All three of them turned to look at Chaewon, who's face was deadly pale and looked like she was about to throw up. Heejin frowned in genuine concern, worried about the small girl who had looked so alive just moments earlier. It was almost as if her eyes had lost their color, looking dull even among the blue and red neons flashing from the games surrounding them -- akin to the dullness in the woman's eyes from last night, who had been dead.

A chill ran down Heejin's spine, and she thought she saw something flash in Chaewon's eyes but it was gone as soon as she blinked again. Must have been the lights.

"I'll talk to you later." Yerim turned to her, looking mildly apologetic and guilty. Heejin just nodded, though the frown continued gripping onto her features and refused to let go. "I'll walk Chaewon home."

Yerim gently took Chaewon by the elbow, and Heejin watched as the latter flinched at the touch thought later relaxed into it. Both her and Hyunjin watched them walk away, uneasiness on both of their faces at the unexpected pairing.

Something was definitely off.

-

"Why did you disappear?" Hyunjin asked her as they walked out of the arcade, carrying both her bag and Heejin's bag on each shoulder. Her eyebrows tugged together in a frown, the corners of her lips down-turning into a moody pout as she looked straight up the street.

Heejin shuffled through the doors of the arcade, Hyunjin's blazer gripped tightly in her hand. The sun was beginning to set, though despite the time being just past seven, the sky was still stained a fiery yellow fading into the azure of the night chasing the day away into the horizon. They had spent two hours in the arcade despite having just entered for a quick game, and Heejin was supposed to be back at home with her 'target' three hours ago. She could literally feel time running thin through her hands.

"I needed to go to the bathroom." Heejin said simply, catching up to Hyunjin's leisurely walking. Taking a look at her side profile, she could see her jaw clench and relax repeatedly.

With a sigh, Hyunjin angled her head to meet her eyes. "Is that all it was? Or is there something else?" There was a welcoming glint in her eyes, though her expression remained stoic enough for Heejin to think that she was angry at her. Which she most likely was, now that she thought about it.

But how could she explain that she had been jealous over something so simple? It was stupid, and frankly a little frustrating for the both of them because Hyunjin obviously hadn't had the intention to make a move on Chaewon, and Heejin had actually taken a liking to the girl despite the bad feeling she had about her. Just the previous night they had argued over this topic -- she wasn't particularly willing to relive that moment again.

"I didn't feel good." It wasn't necessarily a lie, because she definitely hadn't felt good wondering what it would be like if Hyunjin was in love with someone else, and took care of someone else the way she took care of her.

She could feel Hyunjin's frustration emanating from her in waves, and saw it being carried out as she sped up her pace to leave her behind a little on the street. It made her chest ache painfully having to watch Hyunjin's back as she moved away from her deliberately, as if she didn't want to be around her, but she understood her reaction either way. It was just frustrating that she couldn't transmit what she was feeling to her in a way that she would be able to completely comprehend why she had felt so bad.

When she began to disappear behind unfamiliar figures, Heejin huffed and jogged to catch up with her again. Maybe she wasn't able to explain with words, but she hoped to calm her down a little by slipping her hand into hers comfortably.

Hyunjin visibly startled, though she looked a little pleased when she strengthened her grip on her hand. "Why are you lying to me?"

Ouch.

Hyunjin wasn't aware of it, but those words had a double-meaning that cut Heejin deeper than she would have ever expected them to. It felt like there was something within her stomach blazing at her insides, wreaking remorse and a discomfort she knew would never go away even after everything that would happen. Her heart shrieked in her chest, and her lungs emptied of any air as if deeming her unworthy of living anymore. Which, now that the words settled deep in her guilt-ridden mind, held some truth to it.

Thinking that she had hurt her yet unaware as to the true way in how she had done so, Hyunjin quickly shook her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you like that." She sounded like she regretted her words, worry clear in the way her eyebrows creased together as if desperate to touch. "I-I meant... I was just... I was worried that maybe you just said that because... you wanted to get away from me."

She had said the last part quietly, but Heejin had heard her loud and clear. And she couldn't begin to hate herself even more after that.

There was nothing in this world she could do to ever deserve Hyunjin; she was far too humble, and caring, and loving, and attentive to everything that she did and here she was, taking her to her home so her parents could do god knows what to her.

Heejin bit her lip, her teeth almost cutting into the flesh at the force she was biting down with. "You thought I wanted to get away from you?" Her voice shook weakly, and it could easily be mistaken as her being emotional over the topic at hand. "Hyun, I-"

I love you.

Hyunjin desperately clutched at her hand, encouragingly nodding slightly to urge the words out of her.

But she couldn't get the words out. Not because they were lies -- especially not because they were lies -- but because she didn't deserve to love her.

There were tears brimming her eyes, but Heejin quickly blinked them away and tried smiling at Hyunjin. "There's no where I would rather be than with you." But I know that I shouldn't be anywhere near you.

She left the other words unspoken, and just allowed herself to sink into the feeling of being able to be in Hyunjin's presence.

Grinning softly, Hyunjin tugged her closer by the hand and leaned in, though didn't fully close the space between them once she remembered that they were out in the crowded streets of the city, where anyone could see them. Instead, Hyunjin manoeuvred her arm so it was around her shoulders, but their hands remained linked. "I'm glad... I know that being with me isn't exactly..."

Heejin shook her head lightly to stop her from saying any more, stepping into Hyunjin's space to hug her. "I don't care." If she closed her eyes, she could fade into a world where it was just the two of them, no vampires and no manipulative parents, where they were both free for once in their goddamn lives instead of living subject to their parents, and school, and vampire's expectations.

She must've been clutching at Hyunjin's hand pretty tight because the latter leaned back a little to look at her. "Are you okay?" There was worry tainting her face, and Heejin wanted nothing more than to kiss it away, but all she could do was smile weakly. "Do you want me to run you home?"

At the mention of going home, her blood ran cold in her veins.

"No." Heejin shook her head as if it were the worst suggestion. "I don't want to go home, yet. I want to be with you."

It did nothing to get rid of Hyunjin's worry, but she ended up agreeing reluctantly and directing them further into the the center of the city district. "How about we go eat tteokbokki?"

She still had time before she went home.

Relaxing into Hyunjin's hold, she nodded eagerly. "Yes, please. I've been craving it for a couple of days now."

-

The azure had almost invaded all of the sky's canvas by the time they left the patbingsu place, stomachs full to the brim thanks to Heejin's reluctance to let the night end completely. Hyunjin had been complying, but the more Heejin avoided the idea of going home by suggesting another location, the more suspicious she grew of her.

"Heejin, we should probably get going now." Hyunjin shrugged her blazer back on as the cool air of the night hit them, a concerned tug to her eyebrows as she watched Heejin pretend that everything was okay while she casually walked further down the street in the opposite direction of her home. When Heejin didn't answer, Hyunjin ran to catch up to her. "There's something wrong." It didn't take a genius to notice that, but Heejin was still surprised when Hyunjin blatantly pointed it out. "Why don't you want to go home?"

A light laugh and a point towards an anime shop, Heejin glanced at Hyunjin. "There's so much we still haven't done yet - I still haven't taken you to my favorite store."

Before they could walk any further, Hyunjin stepped in front of her and physically stopped her in her tracks with her body, her hand gripping at her extended arm to emphasize her seriousness. "Heejin," her eyes threatened to gleam into the paralyzing yellow tint as she glared down at her, "you have five seconds to tell me what the problem is or I'm running you home. And trust me, I can run pretty fast now."

Gulping, Heejin's smile shook. She had to admit that she was feeling extremely intimidated, what with Hyunjin using her vampire abilities against her, but it didn't stop her from slightly swooning at her acting so compulsively. Still, now that she had gotten herself in that situation, what could she say to her but the truth? The truth that her parents were using her as bait and she had no idea what they wanted her for but all she knew was that it couldn't be good.

When Hyunjin raised a questioning eyebrow, Heejin let her facade fade.

"I... me and my parents had a fight."

As soon as the words registered in her head, Hyunjin released her grip on her arm and backed away a little. "Oh," was all she said as a distant look fell over her face. Heejin was aware that Hyunjin had a strong relationship with her parents, and she had assumed by the way she had talked about them that morning that she hadn't seen them in a while. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was that. I shouldn't have pushed you to say anything..."

"It's okay." Heejin felt like the crappiest human being in the world at the sympathy. "You didn't know, and I haven't exactly been the most truthful with my problems lately."

They let the silence settle between them like a thin layer of snow coming down on a cold winter morning. Heejin could say it now. She could tell Hyunjin of her parents' plans and what they were forcing her to do, and even though it would likely bring about an argument, it would get rid of the heavy guilt that had been clawing at her back. She had set it up perfectly for her to tell her the truth. She had admitted to her dishonesty, now all that was left was explaining exactly how she had been dishonest. All it would take were several words and the truth would be out. She wouldn't need to feel the smothering guilt stifling her breath every time she thought about telling Hyunjin that she loved her.

It would be the best for the both of them. Her parents would have to find another way to get to Hyunjin. Not that she would alow them to.

Heejin parted her lips-

"But they're your parents, and they still worry about you." Hyunjin had chosen the most inconvenient moment to interrupt her, and now all the courage had been slapped away from her. "You should still go home to them..."

Panic permeated Heejin's entire body. She hadn't been able to say it.

Shit.

"It's for the best, trust me." Oh, the irony. "If you feel uncomfortable with me running, I can just call a cab and we can-"

"Shut up, Hyunjin."

Hyunjin's eyes widened from the surprise, her mouth falling open slightly. "Wh-what?"

Heejin did the first thing that had crossed her mind -- probably the only thing that had been on her mind since she had seen Hyunjin all carefree and untroubled in the arcade, clumsily stumbling over her own two feet yet still managing to look as beautiful as she always did.

Dragging her into the empty side-street, overgrown with flowers and plants from the neighboring buildings, Heejin shoved the taller girl against the brick wall and followed after her. She pressed their lips into a searing kiss, eyes clenching shut so tight that she could see stars dancing on her eyelids. Her teeth slightly hurt from where she had practically hit Hyunjin with her mouth, though she found that the pain soothed her mind more than it bothered her, so she embraced it instead.

"Heej-"

Heejin muffled the rest of her name with her mouth after inhaling a harsh breath, clinging onto the last idea she had of stalling this night further and pushing through with as much determination she had left. She could feel her heart trying to rip straight out of her chest and prayed that Hyunjin couldn't feel it.

Pushing her away by the shoulders, Hyunjin took a good look at her face. Her lips were slightly swollen and parted as her chest heaved trying catching her breath. "Why- why did you... I mean- why?"

Seeing her so flustered for the first time was as much amusing as it was endearing, and even though Heejin had used the kiss as a distraction, she wanted nothing more than to continue it. So she let her fingers dance on the collar of her blazer, teasingly brushing the pads against the soft skin on her neck in a way that had even her entranced.

It wasn't a lie when she raised her gaze to meet her conflicted one and said, "I want you."

Slowly, Hyunjin's eyes began to darken and the concern dissipated completely to be replaced with something else. Heejin knew she had succeeded when Hyunjin slowly wrapped her arms around her waist to pull her against her body and gradually, as if teasing her, took her lower lip in her mouth. Hyunjin's kisses seemed to have a recurring theme: where hers were despairing and rushed, hers were careful and calculated as if they had all the time in the world. And that was what Heejin loved about them, because they were just as equally craving as hers and she couldn't really think at all despite the slow pace that did allow her to take breaths in between but didn't allow a single, coherent thought into her mind.

She didn't know how long they were there for, but she was sure that she had gotten the thought of even going home out of Hyunjin's mind judging by the way she held her hips as if they were her anchor. Hers had somehow threaded into Hyunjin's dark hair, tugging and pulling in the direction she wanted to go while the other just gripped at the lapel of her blazer to keep her close.

She could barely hear a thing, as if her ears had been muffled by a distant white-noise but were attuned to listen out to the rustle of their clothes, and their breaths, and the small sounds of approval coming from Hyunjin-

Something sharp scraped her lower lip, breaking whatever trance she had been in.

There was pricking pain shooting up from her mouth.

"Ow..." Heejin leant away, touching at her lip and grimacing when she felt it sting beneath her touch. When she looked at the pads of her fingers, she took in the red smearing them.

Glancing back at Hyunjin, she saw that her eyes glinted a bright, neon yellow, a dazed look on her face as her tongue ran along her sharp teeth to get the rest of the blood. When she realized what was going on, she quickly blinked and shoved Heejin away from her, as if absolutely disgusted with herself.

"Fuck. Shit. Crap." Hyunjin wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand like she had just tasted something bad. Desperately grabbing at her fangs with her fingers, she began trying to forcefully push them back up to hide them. Heejin watched, too stunned to move or say anything at all to diffuse the situation. "Shit, shit. shit! Heejin-ah I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear."

Subconsciously, she ran her tongue along the cut and winced at the metallic taste that stained her tongue. Blood tastes like shit, she thought briefly to herself, how can vampires like it? "It's okay, Hyun." She mumbled distractedly, trying to stop the flow by pressing the hem of her blazer to the wound and pressing on. "You didn't do it on purpose."

The other girl wildly shook her head, looking a mixture of distraught and enticed all at once. Her eyes were flickering from bright yellow and back to a dark brown, looking like the broken lights of an old garage that needed to be replaced, and Heejin could tell that she was doing her best to keep her vampire at bay. It made her swoon a little at the effort, and she smiled comfortingly to stress that she was really okay and that she didn't need to worry.

"Are you okay?" She asked back, observing as Hyunjin lightly smacked her forehead with her hands. "Can I do something to help? I don't know, maybe like, go buy some plasters or something-"

"Wait. Sh."

Heejin tried not to be too offended when Hyunjin literally shushed her, reasoning that it was probably for a good reason. Instead, she watched as her head whipped up, her eyes deciding to choose the yellow tint as she scanned the dark alleyway around them. Heejin did the same and noticed that the sky had darkened into a dark, navy blue, gracefully telling her that they had most likely been there long enough for the night to completely take over the day. Her senses were a little dulled from the aftereffects of the kisses, but she could tell that Hyunjin's were sprightly with the way her nostrils flared slightly and eyes darted around them.

Steadily, Hyunjin wrapped her fingers around her wrist and pulled her closer to her, positioning her so she'd be the one closest to the exit of the empty street. Their bags lay scattered against the wall, though Hyunjin payed no mind to them as her hold strengthened on her wrist.

Heejin thought it would be unwise for her to break the silence and instead began to quietly listen out for anything that may be out of place -- or unusual enough for Hyunjin to react this way.

The only thing she could hear were the distant sounds of cars rushing by on the roads, chatter from whatever civilians were wandering the streets at night and music from some clothes stores nearby.

Her heart beat loudly in her ears.

Then, Hyunjin tensed completely.

Something dropped out of the shadows and into the street with a sickening splatter.

Heejin didn't know what to think when she saw it.

Her jaw dropped to let out a scream, but nothing came out as her breath caught in her throat.

It was the most disgusting thing Heejin had ever seen, aside from the sight of the woman dead on the apartment floor. It had the form of a dog, as it was on four legs, but there was barely any fur coating its body and instead had grayish, greasy skin clinging to its thick bones. But its head looked nothing like a dog, and instead like one of those weird alien creations that had a narrow, spear-like shape and wide mouths, which opened to reveal layers of razor-sharp fangs and a weirdly shaped tongue.

Her vision darkened a little, threatening to blind her from the shock and make her pass out, but she quickly hid herself behind Hyunjin.

The thing made a strange tapping sound as it clicked its teeth together, a grumble shredding from its unusually long throat to replicate a whirring sound.

It sounded incredibly familiar. Something she had heard before -- despite how sickly the thing was. At first, Heejin began to think that maybe it was a noise one of the monsters from one of the horror movies she had watched before, but as the thing continued to make the sound, she was greeted with an epiphany.

At Hyunjin's apartment, before she ran out of there, she'd heard a strange tapping noise. She hadn't known what it was, but her instincts had told her to run and so she did. Had she not ran that moment... maybe Hyunjin would have found her beside the dead woman instead of the alleyway that night.

It roared the whirring sound, the shrill pitch threatening to burst her eardrums, before charging at them with its strange claws.

Hyunjin pushed her back further before dashing to seize the thing by the back of its neck. It snapped its sharp teeth at her hand when it got close enough, but somehow Hyunjin was fast enough to remove her hand from its path and retract it. The monster focused on Hyunjin, seemingly forgetting completely about Heejin, and continued to make the strange tapping sound.

"Run!' Hyunjin shouted at her, her eyes shining bright yellow and fangs extended fully in her mouth.

Heejin stumbled in her place uselessly, struggling with her flight or fight instincts. She didn't know what to do.

Just as Hyunjin was distracted, the monster viciously lunged at her, its mouth open to snap at her body.

Heejin screamed to warn her, but Hyunjin was shoved back against a wall with the thing savagely scratching and tearing at her body. Hyunjin growled as her face contorted in pain, but her eyes gleamed impossibly brighter as she threw the thing off of her and further down the street.

She had to help her. She couldn't just stand here doing nothing.

Remembering a dumpster they had passed several stores down with thrown out furniture, Heejin sprinted down the road with the intentions of getting something to hit that thing with. She shoved different objects to the side, desperately searching for anything that she could hold but something that would hurt the thing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a metal pole resting up against the dumpsters, slightly broken from the main structure. Quickly, she gripped onto it with as much strength as her body could exert and she tugged it from its place.

Please let her be okay, please let her be okay...

Heejin saw Hyunjin struggling against the thing on the floor, dodging its snaps at her neck and trying to kick it backwards. Just as it pinned her down to the floor, Heejin rushed towards it and swung as hard as she could.

There was a sickening crunch against the metal, and Heejin could feel the different textures of the soft flesh and the strong bones as she swung through. It flew towards the wall and hit it, falling momentarily against the floor.

Hyunjin shot up, a dismayed expression on her face as she realized that Heejin hadn't ran away as she had told her to, but before either of them could say anything the monster screeched and charged at them.

Though this time it seemed to focus on Heejin.

Heejin froze when she saw the revolting thing running at her, more terrified than she had ever been in her life.

Hyunjin caught it by the jaw in mid air, though Heejin could see how the fangs cut into her fingers and drew blood from them. She and the thing fought at a speed that Heejin couldn't keep up with, and her faulty grip on the pole was the only thing keeping her from passing out that very moment.

"Heejin!"

Hearing her name, she turned to find the familiar voice. Yerim was running through the small, narrow street with a distressed look on her face and still wearing her school uniform. But when she set eyes on the monster and Hyunjin, it contorted into one of confusion and disgust. Heejin saw her mouth 'what the fuck' before she felt arms wrap around her body and was suddenly being removed completely from the situation.

"Stay here, and if we don't come back in five minutes, run." Yerim fiercely shook her shoulders when she placed her down in her new location, firmly glaring at her to make sure she was listening. "You hear me, Heejin? You run, and you don't look back. You tell Lip-unnie what happened."

Heejin dazedly blinked, not able to respond to the question before Yerim disappeared from her sight. She was left alone in the middle of an empty street with a metal pole loosely gripped in her hands.

What the hell was Yerim doing there? What was that thing? Was she dreaming?

What the fuck?

Her vision swayed, and suddenly she was collapsing to the floor, knees too weak to keep her up.


	15. fifteen

The pages felt thin between the pads of her forefinger and thumb, though she was sure that if the book were to ever slip from her hands her skin would still be pierced with a paper cut. Her eyes dug dazedly into the pages, though the glasses perched on her nose did their best to help her make out the small font of the sentence she'd been trying to read over and over again.

Sighing, Heejin let her head fall back to rest against the tall armchair she was sitting in her father's study. He'd ushered her into the room as soon as she had come home and handed her several books to study up on the concept of vampires (something that she still couldn't quite believe was real) and she had not left since. From time to time he would come back in and wordlessly sit at his desk in front of his computer, typing out some important documents or other that Heejin honestly had no energy to even begin to be curious over. His determined atmosphere, however, was what motivated her to keep her eyes to the page and continue to inform herself on the history behind vampires.

It didn't feel real. Any of it.

The thought that Hyunjin, her best friend since they both wore braces, could be a blood sucking monster like the things being described in the very specified history books in her hands was almost impossible for her to comprehend. And it wasn't like anything the romance novels and stories tried to depict -- there wasn't anything about literally draining the life out of someone that was sexy at all.

Her days had been bleak at school, too.

Chaeyoung and Seoyeon both payed no mind to the abrupt disappearance of Hyunjin, as if she had never even existed in the first place. The only time that her best friend would ever come up in conversation was when one of them would ask her if they could sit beside her now that she was gone, and she'd deny them without a second thought. Truthfully, she wasn't sure if it was because it was an automatic reaction of defending Hyunjin's rightful place beside her, or if it was because despite the knowledge of her being something... other worldly she still cared about her just as much.

Her chin fell to meet her chest when she realised that she had just been staring blankly at the book for the past several minutes without making any progress. (Not that she had been for the past hour or so.)

Frustrated not only at herself but at the world for putting her in such a dire situation, Heejin tossed the book to the small couch beside the armchair and robotically picked up a thinner book, hoping that it would be more legible than the previous one had been.

The first page she saw was stained in flowing ink lacing together to form her father's handwriting, which she touched curiously with her fingertips to assure herself that it was, in fact, inscribed by him.

"Protection against increasingly threatening vampires becomes a rising priority..." Mumbling out the sentence to herself helped her process the words better, though she wasn't sure she really wanted to be taking in the information that there was a possibility of there being such harmful beings out there. "...testing various methods..."

Heejin frowned as she turned to the next page, taking in the number at the top and the name of the experiment. On the opposite side of the notebook was a continuation to the test, though it seemed to have a large cross graffitied over it to mark it as a failure. With an increasing intrigue, she flicked to the next page, and the next, and the next, pausing momentarily on one that displayed testing on silver as a plausible weapon having recognised it as the very metal on the blade that her mother had presented her with.

The ever-growing pounding in her chest only continued to become more frantic in proportion to her hands picking past the pages as if she were trying to find something -- something that would tell her there was hope to achieving a protection against the strong monsters, or something that would tell her if Hyunjin would ever be in danger or not.

She was like a madman desperately searching for something that wouldn't ever be printed there.

Broken out of her trance by the sudden blankness of the pages, she put a pause on her desperation and instead blinked at the lined paper in mild surprise.

Confused as to why the writing had stopped so unexpectedly, she back-tracked to the last written account in the text book. On the back of the tainted paper stained with a brown mark was a number scribbled in a different pen, notably some cheap biro picked up from its stray position on a desk. Even more bewildered by the unexplained digits, she turned to look at the page prior to it and finding that it was a load of gibberish in scrawny handwriting slightly distinct to her father's.

"... breakthroughs in the development of... had main- diad manipulation?" Heejin squinted at the messy words, trying to make her eyes see what the joined up letters spelled out.

She sat in silence for several seconds, reading over the rest of the sentence to try and make sense of the word and discovery what it read.

"Blood manipulation."

The words sunk in slowly as she finally made sense of them, and her eyes immediately searched for the previous page to look at the name of the experiment only to find that it had no correlation at all to the content of the information on the one she was reading. Remnants of the page she was looking for wrapped around the rings binding the notebook together flicked off when she touched them with her fingers.

Someone had ripped the page out of the notebook.

She spent several minutes flicking through the book, reading the failed experiments in further detail, until her father walked in with several pieces of paper bunched up together in his hands. There was stress marring his features, the lines of his face indented deeply in his skin and the frown settling there being one of pure concentration. It only served as a reminder of the strain his job as a researcher for the government must put on him, and how she couldn't really discredit his work at all.

Hesitantly, she pushed herself up from the armchair and approached him as if he were some dangerous animal prepared to tear her to pieces the very moment she stepped anywhere near. (It certainly felt that way when he snapped his eyes up to look at her with slight annoyance, though the look completely melted away once he registered who exactly he was looking at and morphed into a welcoming smile.)

"How are you feeling?" He asked her, putting the papers down like they were of little importance to him. He gently reached out to hold her elbow, beginning to massage her upper forearm that just happened to be feeling sore from a day of writing so much at school. "You've been reading for several hours now, you can take a break if you want."

Heejin smiled back at him, letting herself enjoy the display of affection while it lasted. "It's okay, I've been learning a lot." Her voice was steady despite the weariness in her eyes, still feeling a little uncertain of everything happening around her. There was a possibility that she was going crazy and dreaming all of this up -- or perhaps her parents were the ones who were hallucinating and brainwashing her into believing crazy things. "I just wanted to ask you something about one of the books you gave me."

Slightly quirking his eyebrow, her father pushed himself back from the desk and spun his chair so he faced her with all of her attention. "Of course," his voice held the passion Heejin only ever heard whenever her spoke about his work, and she was surprised to have it directed at her for once, "what are you confused about."

Now feeling slightly awkward at the unnecessary amount of attention going into the question, Heejin shifted her weight and held up the notebook to shift the attention. "It's nothing serious, just something written down in here that didn't have an explanation."

A frown formed on her father's face. "Where did you get this from?" He appeared to be genuinely confused as to how Heejin had managed to get her hands on the book, and he held his hand out for her to place it in his grasp. "I must've accidentally slipped it into the other books."

Heejin's entire body tensed, prepared to be scolded for reading something that she shouldn't have.

Instead, her father flicked through the book, eyes scanning each page briefly as if he were re-acquainting himself with the contents of it. When he reached the back of the book, where the missing page was meant to be, he let out a quiet sigh before looking back up to give her an inviting smile. "Even though you shouldn't really have read any of this, it's nothing too important."

Most likely because someone ripped the important part out, Heejin thought to herself.

"What is it you're confused about?" He asked, resting the notebook on his thigh as if his hand had become too heavy to hold up.

"There are numbers on one of the last pages." Heejin started off, doing her best to keep her voice strong just as her mother had taught her to do in every situation, no matter who she was talking to. Her father distractedly began to look back into the book for the said page. "I was just wondering if they were important for me to learn or not."

When he read the number, he soundlessly stared at the series of digits. There was an unreadable expression that crossed his face, and Heejin prepared herself once more for any signs of aggression or anger that she would have to cower from, but she didn't have to when her father presented her with a smile. A tight one, but a smile nonetheless.

"It's a date. I had completely forgotten about it, if I'm being honest." There was something to the way his eyes glazed over with nostalgia that made her heart melt in her chest. Having never seen this fatherly expression on his face, Heejin found herself caught off-guard by the array of emotions surging throughout her body, ranging from sadness at the fact that this had been one of the only times she got to experience his love, as well as happiness to finally reach a point in their relationship where he could feel comfortable enough to let his guard down. "I'm not quite sure I remember why I had written this down... but I'm pretty sure that I wrote this the exact day it happened."

Heejin remained mum, unsure whether she was allowed to break the silence or not. She didn't want to stop whatever father-daughter moment they were having.

She did her best not to flinch when he reached his hand out for her face, but she couldn't help the way her eyes automatically blinked furiously in caution. The feeling of the rough texture of his hand brushing back stray pieces of hair that had fallen out of her bun was something foreign to her. "I think I was working at home that day- or at least I was supposed to, but I got distracted- you were born around... seven months before that, and I wanted to spend time with my family."

Heejin kept her bitter thoughts to herself, instead concentrating on the way his hand continued to brush her hair on her head back into place.

"Your mother had been bragging to anyone that would listen that her baby girl had said 'mama' for the first time, and her and I have always had a competitive streak between the two of us- so for weeks I tried my hardest to get you to say 'papa' too. I was just playing around with you while your mother was gone, and you just happened to say 'dadda' and I was so happy that I'm pretty sure I knocked some coffee onto my work, and I just had to write down the date because I knew your mother would never believe me and I would never let her live that down." The nostalgic glint in his eyes morphed into something that tugged at her heart-strings: pride. "My little girl called me 'dadda' and I was the happiest father alive."

No words or thoughts came to Heejin's mind as she tried her best to hold back the tears, instead staring at her father who seemed to slowly come back out of his memory and into the moment they were sharing. The air was heavy with a tension boiled over years of neglect and the heart of a 'little girl' who just yearned for the attention of her father.

Similarly, her father seemed to come to the realization that his words had not spoken true to the rest of his life; he had not managed to spend any time with his family or his daughter while she was growing up.

Heejin balked at the way his jaded eyes shimmered with tears in the warm light of the office chandelier.

"I'm sorry Heejin." His voice wavered, and that was most likely the first time that it had ever done that. "I- You deserve a better father. I'm sorry."

Carefully, his strong arms pulled her into a hug which she found that she couldn't help but let herself immediately melt into. The aroma of coffee beans and after-shave stained his clothes, a combination she had never smelt up close before though one that she didn't oppose to. His chin rested on the top of her head and his hold on her was tight enough to make her feel his body shudder with every inhale and exhale he made, the rhythm present on her cheek pressed against his chest.

Heejin could fall asleep right there, in her father's arms, just as she would have done when she was still 'his little girl'.

010426

-

As soon as she had set foot in school campus, her top priority became finding Hyunjin's whereabouts and making sure that she was okay -- that she was still breathing -- that she was still alive.

Vivid images of last night's events still played out in her mind like scenes from a movie, and the last things she could really remember were blacking out in the middle of a street and Jeno happening to pass by in that moment with a group of his friends, insisting on taking her back to her house, and her passing out as soon as she reached her bed inside her room.

The following morning had been like waking up to a cold, ruthless realization that set somewhere deeper than the forefront of her mind; it reached the deepest depths of her consciousness and stayed there for the rest of the day.

What if Hyunjin was dead?

Just the thought of it had almost made her retch, guilt seeming to be the most prominent emotion controlling every aspect of her life nowadays.

She had somehow managed to make the most insensitive, selfish, stupid decision in her life and leave Hyunjin and Yerim behind to fend for their lives and fight that... disgusting abomination. It had had claws sharper than the dagger in her pocket and the a bloodlust she didn't event think that the rest of the sanguisuges she had met would be able to possess. Hyunjin had obviously looked like she had been struggling to keep the thing off her just for two seconds. If Hyunjin couldn't fight that thing off, then would Yerim? Would both of them be dead?

She felt sick.

She was going to throw up soon if she didn't make sure that both of them were still alive.

Walking through the school felt more like floating, her mind elsewhere while her eyes glazed over with nothing. Nothing at all. (Her mind had most likely shut down her emotions to prevent her from having a full on breakdown in the middle of a populated hallway where people could watch her for their own sick amusement. Everything in her body felt numb. Including her brain.)

The first place her feet took her was the trees near the soccer field where she and Hyunjin had sat down just the previous day. All that she was greeted with was the soft sway of the leaves and empty patches of grass and no Hyunjin.

The second place was the study center where Hyunjin would make it a habit to breathe, eat and sleep there. (Just in case her passion for school had been rekindled overnight.) Several heads raised in curiosity to look at her when she entered, though none belonged to the messy mane of dark brown so early in the morning.

The only other place that Hyunjin tended to reside in at school was their classroom, which she had purposefully made her last stop because she knew she was running late and if Hyunjin just so happened to not be there, she'd be forced to sit down anyway. But she prayed to whatever God was up there that Hyunjin was sitting in her seat, at the back of the classroom beside Chaewon, looking a little beaten up but alive and breathing and just there for Heejin to confirm that she wasn't at all dreaming.

It felt like she was living in a nightmare when her eyes landed on the empty seat beside Chaewon.

The teacher's voice sounded like it was underwater when he spoke to her, probably telling her to sit down, but her feet had remained planted in the threshold of the doorway as if something had ripped from the ground and tied her there.

If Hyunjin wasn't at school, then...

Thinking positively, she told herself that she could have just been too injured to come in that day.

Right, it would be unwise for her to come into school with bandaged fingers and a scratched up torso and bruises covering her skin and- (Heejin physically shook her head to rid herself of that image, crushing it mentally in her mind.) Jinsoul wasn't unwise. Jinsoul would never let Hyunjin come into school if she was injured but still breathing, still alive, still there.

Jeno tried talking to her as she slumped down on her chair, her spare carrier bag dropping heavily to the floor. (She had lost her other school bag containing her belongings, so she'd just shoved the remainder of her books into the nearest bag she could find.) His voice too became muffled, not even reaching her as she stared blankly at the front wall to provide herself with some clarity.

What would she do if Hyunjin was dead?

Would she able to live with the guilt?

One thing she knew for sure was that she would hate herself forever; for not telling Hyunjin everything that her parents were planning; for not telling Hyunjin just how much she loved her; for not telling Hyunjin that no matter what happened she would want to be with her.

And what about Yerim?

Would she ever be able to hug her like that again? Hear her bubbly laughter and joke around about the stupidest things they could find?

She never really told Yerim how much she appreciated her -- it was only now how much it dawned on her how she had taken her for granted, thinking that Yerim would just be a constant in her life to cheer her up when nobody else could, and to provide her with a comfort that most likely came from years of living.

What was she going to do?

Nausea washed over her once more as her forehead hit the desk. Heejin wasn't sure if it was possible, but if she were to die that very moment the singular word written in big bold letters and underlined several times in the 'cause of death' box would be 'guilt'. Guilt seeping through her veins like venom and crippling every part of her body the more she let it fester inside of her.

"Heejin, are you alright?" Beside her, her teacher crouched so he would be at eye-level with her. "Do you want to head to the infirmary if you're not feeling well?"

Gulping the heavy, large lump stuck in the back of her throat, Heejin gently shook her head. "No..." Great, now it sounded like she lost her voice. "I'm fine."

Something or other was said to Jeno beside her, who had been resting his hand on her back and rubbing comforting circles in an attempt at what he thought was usual sickness. It hadn't been doing much to help her -- in fact, it felt more like deadweight on her body rather than anything that served as consolation -- but she reasoned that he was only doing what he thought was best for her in that moment. And she wasn't going to blame him.

She spent the remainder of the lesson in that position, going over possible theories in her head over and over again as if trying to thread a tapestry with every guilt-ridden string of thought running through her mind. It was only when the sound of the school bell that mercilessly cut through the air that Heejin allowed herself to rise from her place and shoot out of her seat, ready to go to Yerim's classroom to look for her too.

If she could find Yerim, then she could ask her what happened last night, and then she'd tell her that everything was okay and that they killed the monster and nothing would ever hurt them ever again.

"Uh, Heejin, do you-"

"Sorry, not right now." Heejin tried dodging Chaewon, who had a worried frown on her face. She was in a horrendous mood and she didn't think that she could be able to handle herself if she talked to her any longer.

"Wait, I just need to know-"

Ignoring her words completely, Heejin stormed out of the classroom and began to make her way down the hallway towards the stairs, her intentions were to move to the floor above where Yerim's classroom was. She had a one-track mind in that moment, and nothing could stop her from making sure that both of the people that she cared about were okay.

When she felt a tug at the sleeve of her blazer, she managed to come to a halt in the middle of the hallway and turn back to glare at Chaewon, who just happened to be pushing ever single button on her panel. "What?" She deadpanned as calmly as possible, doing her best to maintain her anger.

Chaewon cowered slightly, and it made Heejin feel horrible. So horrible that it managed to morph into anger towards Chaewon for making her feel even more guilty for getting annoyed when she was the one who was being annoyingly persistent even when Heejin was obviously not in the mood to talk. And Heejin didn't need the extra baggage when she was handling so many things at once -- when every aspect of her life was literally falling apart and when she literally felt herself on the edge of a panic attack.

"Do you know where Hyunjin is?"

Something inside of Heejin snapped when she heard Hyunjin's name being said aloud.

And Chaewon just happened to be unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire of it.

"What the fuck do you think I've been trying to find out all morning?" Tugging her arm out of Chaewon's small grip, Heejin felt herself lose control of her mouth filter. "I've been worried out of my mind about whether she's okay and if she made it home fine and I would be able to find out from Yerim- who, can I just say- Is also probably missing- if she's safe- and I would be able to actually get to her classroom if you'd just stop being such a clingy bitch for two goddamn seconds!"

The words settled over the hallway, not only registering to Heejin and Chaewon, but also all the other nosy eyes watching the situation with curiosity and surprise. Murmurs began to play in the background as students whispered to one another, judging both Heejin and Chaewon equally as they remained shocked in the middle of it all.

Tears were already falling from Chaewon's heartbroken eyes, and the wounded expression looked a lot like a kicked puppy. All Heejin could do was watch as Chaewon staggered back like she'd been physically pushed away. Her entire face was reddening from both the embarrassment at being insulted so rudely in front of a crowd and the deception of being insulted by someone she most likely began to see as a friend. And Heejin regretted her words immediately afterwards, guilt already settling on her weak heart as Chaewon's lips struggled to part and form any intelligible words.

In the end, all that came out was a whimper and Chaewon was turning away from the situation and running.

Just when Heejin thought she couldn't be a shittier person, she just had to one up herself again.

Feebly, she continued her way up the stairs while managing to ignore the looks being sent her way. Nothing felt like it was right in that moment, and she was almost sure that her whole life was in a large, big, scrunched up mess too large for her small hands to handle.

"Heejin? Are you feeling alright?" Coincidentally, her old homeroom teacher, Choi, managed to find her almost all the way up the stairs. On his face he wore a genuinely concerned expression, especially as he watched Heejin stagger against the wall for support.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Heejin rubbed at her temple, trying to soothe the growing migraine riddling her mind helpless. She remembered how Choi had been the one to introduce Yerim to her when the younger girl began in school, and thought that if something had happened to her then he must have known. "I was just wondering if you'd seen Yerim today?"

Choi frowned momentarily, his concern appearing to double with the two creases formed between his eyebrows. "I was actually going to ask you if you had seen her," he said slowly, wary of the choices of his words, "she didn't come talk to me this morning."

The breath was knocked out of Heejin's lungs at the words. Yerim wasn't in school either.

"Did you speak to her yesterday? She seemed like she was in a rush when she left school." Choi prompted, shoving his hands deep inside the pockets of his trousers.

Heejin shook her head. "No, I'm sorry..."

Sighing, Choi just lightly shook his head and rested a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her with a reassuring pat. "That's alright, Heejin. It's not your fault."

Oh god, but it was her fault. It was her fault that she had just left Yerim and Hyunjin to die at the terror of that mutant monster thing (she didn't even know how to begin to describe it) when she could have stayed and done something to help. It ws her fault that she had been too mentally weak to handle the pressure of dealing with something like that, when she had been studying and preparing herself for a situation like that.

"I'm just... going to get some air." Heejin quietly said, not bothering to try and smile back to Choi.

Rather than walking down the stairs, she slumped each and every step, her body feeling far too heavy for her two weak legs to carry. She couldn't really do anything to solve the guilt that she felt over Yerim and Hyunjin, but she could do something to fix the horrible words she had thoughtlessly thrown at Chaewon. That was someone who certainly didn't deserve to be mistreated, especially when all she was doing was be concerned over the well-being of Hyunjin like a good friend should be.

When she reached the outside of her classroom, she pulled Jeno aside from their group of friends to ask him if he had seen a certain small, black-haired girl running off in a particular direction. His face seemed to be contorted into perturbation, his eyes scanning her appearance for anything that would give away the reason for her state, but he still focussed on answering her question anyway.

Heejin followed where he had pointed towards without a sliver of hesitation, and set off without another word. She had a vague idea of where Chaewon would have gone, there being only a handful of places around the school where someone would be able to find privacy to do whatever it was they were doing. (Crying, Heejin thought agitatedly.) Even on the way over, she kept mulling over her words and tried formulating an apology that wouldn't sound like she was trying to half-ass it just for the sake of apologizing.

Sure, at first she hadn't really liked Chaewon.

She had appeared at school out of no where, calling herself a transfer student from another province entirely, and had sat quietly at the back of the classroom. Perhaps it was because her appearance happened only two days after Hyunjin's disappearance that Heejin began associating the two events together. Not only that, but she hadn't really talked at all, even when someone tried approaching her and make conversation, and she had had this strange, blank look on her face that left Heejin feeling horribly unsettled. And then Hyunjin came back, and Chaewon was suddenly opening herself up to someone (it just had to be Hyunjin, Heejin bitterly thought) and becoming this bright, and bubbly personality.

But after hanging out with her the day before, she began to see that there was more to her than the creepy aura she gave off.

Heejin could tell that Chaewon was just a shy person, and perhaps having Hyunjin coming back and being treated like an outcast too had given her something she could relate to.

After listening to the reason behind her transfer, Heejin just tuned her disappointment on herself for even beginning to assume that she had been kicked out of her previous school. Chaewon had opened up to them and told them that she'd been having medical issues since she was a child and had been practically living in the hospital for all of her childhood (which would explain her introverted front). The only times she had ever physically been to school were on and off during elementary school, but she carried out her education in the confines of the white hospital walls. She had only been recently cured of her illness and had been given a chance to enroll in their school by Choi, who had known her parents for a while, even though the year was almost over anyway.

The uncomfortable look on Chaewon's face as she retold her story was ingrained into Heejin's memory, and she couldn't help but feel ten times worse about what she had said.

First, she would apologize for insulting her. It had been uncalled for and unfair of her to take her anger out on the nearest person available. Then, she would apologize for never reaching out to her when she saw her alone at school. Chaewon must have felt left out and lonely all of that time by herself.

Heejin already had the words running in her mind, rolling repeatedly like tape in a loop, when the fresh air hit her in the face. It was a bright day outside, just like the day prior to it, and the sunlight was already shining its rays into her eyes.

She could hear small voices around the corner of the building, though they were muffled by the distant traffic from the city outside of school and the chaos within the building. At least she had managed to find the location where Chaewon was. Now all it took was building up the courage to actually talk to her after mistreating her so horribly.

Taking in an unsteady breath, Heejin tried gathering every ounce of regret in her body. Her heart was pounding in her chest from the nerves.

Finally, she began to confidently make her way over to Chaewon's small hiding place.

But something stopped her in her tracks.

When she went to scream, a secure pressure roughly covered her mouth, completely muffling the sound.

Heejin's heart stopped beating in her chest and her eyes widened.

"What are you doing." A familiar voice hissed, the harsh breath hitting the shell of her ear humidly.

With eyes almost bulging out of their sockets, Heejin registered the face beside hers as she felt herself being restrained by something akin to rope.

"You can't say anything, okay?" Kim Lip wore a sneer on her face, though that was not the thing that caught her attention. Rather, the red bruise melting into a dark, blotchy purple on her right cheek that swelled up her skin to push into her eye, and the tear parting her usually red lips in a harsh cut as if it had been done by a blade. There was even a white plaster stuck to the bridge of her nose, which would most likely stop a nosebleed.

Heejin frowned deeply, confused as to why Kim Lip looked like she had just been beaten into a pulp, and what she was talking about. She tried talking through the pressure over her mouth, but found that her hand was pressing down hard enough to leave a visible mark later.

"I'm going to take my hand off," Kim Lip said with a warning tone, the one eye that was fully opened threateningly darkening into a black obsidian, "but as soon as you scream, you won't be able to talk ever again. Understand?"

She nodded, fear frothing over the edges of her body.

Once her hand was pried off her face, Heejin greedily breathed in a large puff of oxygen. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest, and she felt as though she would get a heart attack if things kept progressing against her favor. Even after it was off, she could still feel each and every finger preventing any room for air entering her mouth.

"I-" Heejin grimaced as she tried catching her breath, leaning over to rest her hands on her knees. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kim Lip violently gripped her by the shoulder to straighten her posture, looking threateningly into her eyes. "Tell me what you were doing out here." The dark expression matched perfectly well with the visible injuries marring her facial features (the more that Heejin looked, the more she noticed more bruises peppering her skin).

Remembering what she was doing before being attacked, Heejin shot a glance to where Chaewon was on the other side. "I was just going to apologize to someone." She protested, though she felt the annoyance die down into anxiety when Kim Lip just glowered. "I seriously have no idea what you're talking about, but can we talk through it after I apologize?"

The guilt was still present in her body, and her top priority in that moment was to get rid of it.

Kim Lip narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously, though Heejin could tell that she wasn't truly going to hurt her. From what Yerim had told her, Kim Lip had always liked to pretend that she was tougher than she let on by amping up her intimidation skills just to enforce that image on others. But apparently, Kim Lip was the softest, most harmless person that Yerim had ever met, so Heejin wasn't all too intimidated with the way Kim Lip looked like she wanted to pulverize her right then and there.

When she didn't reply, Heejin took it as a confirmation.

She prepared herself for talking to Chaewon after that small scare, but when she neared the corner she heard the girl talking to someone.

She stopped in her place just when she was about to turn the corner.

"...I can't let you do that. I don't care." Her small voice was shaking terribly, being broken by small hiccups from her tears.

Heejin frowned, confused as to what the context of the conversation would be. Behind her, she felt Kim Lip silently approach to join in the eavesdropping.

"No, the last time we did that people got hurt." Chaewon's voice raised slightly, as if she were arguing with someone. It was the loudest Heejin had heard her raise her voice. "No! Stop it!"

At the sound of Chaewon being in pain, Heejin moved to go help her. Kim Lip seized her by the forearm, pulling her back so that they remained hidden behind the stone wall of the school. When Heejin snapped her head around to tell her to release her, Kim Lip motioned for her to be quiet and instead listen to what was happening.

"Ah!" Chaewon screamed, followed by the sound of a thump on the ground. "No!"

Unable to let another person get hurt while she could help it, Heejin moved to see what was happening, dragging Kim Lip along in the process. Her heart was already hurting from losing Hyunjin and Yerim in one night -- she didn't want to be the cause of someone else's disappearance after having treated them like crap. She knew that if that happened she would just-

Heejin froze when she saw the sight in front of her.

Kim Lip's grip on her forearm tightened to the point of restricting blood flow.

Both of them watched as Chaewon squirmed painfully against the wall, but that was not what made them halt.

Heejin didn't know if this was something that was possible, or if she was just so tired that she was hallucinating things. 

Chaewon's slick jet-black hair began to taint a blindingly, golden blonde from the tips upwards, crawling upwards like a slow venom weaving into her body. It was similar to Jinsoul's bleached hair color, but the sun shone down on it to cast out bright rays of sunlight into Heejin's eyes and she had to momentarily squint in order to stop herself from losing her sight. Her body curled in on itself in an attempt to shrink her body size further, her hands gripping and curling against her school uniform as if she were trying to get it off of her.

The newly blonde's body abruptly went limp.

Heejin staggered back into Kim Lip, who was as still as a rock while trying to anchor herself with the help of Heejin's arm between her fingers.

They could both feel the air freeze around them when the blonde's eyes shot open.

The once warm, shy, brown eyes melted and morphed into a blazing turquoise.

That was not Chaewon.

-

Kim Lip's hands wrung the black leather of the steering wheel as if trying to rid it of the nonexistent water soaking the material. Her upper body leaned forward restlessly as if it would encourage the sports car to move faster than it already was, what with the way her foot was pressing down hard on the accelerator.

Heejin didn't think she'd ever seen an expression so petrified. When Kim Lip's irises had boiled down to an inky black with a ring of gleaming neon red circling the bottom of them, she hadn't even blinked at the change, already too used to having people's eyes change color. Though she had to admit that out of all the colors she had seen so far, Kim Lip's had to be one of the most terrifying ones; the deep black was just a reminder of the demonic entities that walked the earth and it made Heejin's blood run cold in her veins.

"What happened to Chaewon?" Heejin asked, her voice shaking like a leaf in the middle of a typhoon. Her knuckles were white from gripping at the handle of the car, positive that her entire hand was beginning to go numb from the strength she was exerting to not get tossed around as Kim Lip dodged other cars and obstacles in the way.

She had never seen anything like it. It was like Chaewon was being possessed by some other entity entirely which forced her hair to dye to a golden blonde and her eyes to flicker to an completely different color.

At this point, anything was possible. Someone could tell Heejin that dogs were secretly creatures sent from heaven and could talk to report back to their secret base that their human owners were doing okay and she would end up believing it anyway. What else could happen that hadn't already happened? Someone she knew was secretly a serial killer ready to kill everyone in the world? Hell, it could be Jeno for all she knew.

Kim Lip growled slightly under her breath when the traffic lights turned red, forcing their high-speed runaway to a momentary halt. "I'm not sure but I think I have an idea. Jinsol and I thought of it as a possibility, but we thought that chances of anything like it happening again after what happened with Yves were below zero."

The vague explanation did nothing to answer her question, and Heejin instead looked at Kim Lip's appearance to give her clues as to why she looked so beaten and bruised. Both of her hand's knuckles were scabbed with still healing wounds, looking like she had punched the living daylights out of someone the night before. from the rolled up sleeves of her blouse, Heejin could see scratches lining her forearms and bruises beginning to form on the outside of them, the purple skin becoming a recurring theme throughout her skin the more that Heejin looked.

When the sudden change in speed forced Heejin's back against the back of the passenger's seat, her eyes snapped towards the road. "Where are we going?" She asked instead, feeling the urgency in every minor shift and tilt of the steering wheel carried out in the car.

"Jinsol's house." Kim Lip answered curtly, concentrating instead on doing her best not to crash them against any other cars driving in the congested city street. (Heejin prayed that the woman had enough experience with driving for them to arrive in one piece. She also realized that if anyone were to know anything about Hyunjin, it would be the person responsible of taking care of her.) "Lets just hope that she doesn't fucking kill me when we get there..."

Heejin gulped, feeling the insides of her stomach swish around as Kim Lip made a drastic turn left. "You guys don't get along?" She asked albeit a little curiously.

The woman gave a scoff, almost rolling her eyes if it weren't for her extreme focus on the road ahead of her. "'Get along'? Why do you think I look like I just got hit by a truck?"

Heejin widened her eyes in surprise. "Jinsoul did that to you?" She had always been precautious about the blonde woman, especially after hearing that she was the one who slaughtered all of the Olde vampire population, but she had never expected someone she knew to feel the wrath of her violence. And to have it be someone like Kim Lip, who she knew was actually a demon, was slightly bone-chilling. "Why would she do that?"

Kim Lip let herself roll her eyes as they slowed down behind another wave of traffic, relaxing more in her seat as fatigue began to wash over her features. "I had it coming when I showed up at her house without saying anything." She grimaced while rubbing at her shoulder, rolling it in small circles to try and rid herself of the likely pressure formed there. Heejin was amazed at the nonchalance in her tone, as if she had expected to be beaten and bruised so severely for something as small as just paying a house visit. "We haven't exactly had the best... past, let's just put it that way."

"Yeah, but to hurt someone this bad..." Heejin scanned the injuries again, surprised that someone could cause this much damage on someone else.

Something unreadable crossed Kim Lip's face for a moment, her entire mood darkening into something akin to the guilt still seeping through Heejin's body. "I did something that hurt her even worse." A rasp clung onto the woman's melancholy voice, and Heejin felt sympathy rushing through her as she saw the familiar expression presented on her face for her to see. "She could beat me up and make me bleed every day and it still wouldn't be as bad as what I did to her."

Heejin knew that it wasn't her place to ask what Kim Lip had done that warranted such a torturous punishment, and instead averted her gaze to at least give her the feeling that she wasn't being pressured or interrogated.

There was something about her words that Heejin could relate deeply to. She could feel the guilt in Kim Lip's voice on another level, and she could easily relate to it more than she would like to. What she was doing to Hyunjin -- lying to her about her parents and being aware of why they wanted her to get close to her -- was something that would be near to unforgivable, and she wouldn't ever blame Hyunjin for hating her if she found out. It made her feel like a crappy human being for lying to the person that she said she loved so much. She wondered if Kim Lip felt the same.

Kim Lip clenched her jaw as she drove down the street carefully, yet still maintaining the high velocity.

"You care about her."

Kim Lip looked towards her in surprise, doing a double-take at the unexpected nature of the statement Heejin had just blurted out of her mouth without thinking. Her cut lips parted, though no sound was produced to make a sound and instead Kim Lip pursed them despite the tear still not having healed completely. She didn't have to say anything for Heejin to know that she had already made the correct assumption.

"Jinsol and I-" Kim Lip began, her words catching in her throat as if they refused to come out. "We- there's more than two-hundred years history between us. And most of it is bad blood."

Heejin nodded, not wanting to accidentally interrupt her. "But you still care about her." She said into the silence. "Even after everything, you'd still do anything for her."

Kim Lip didn't say anything, and that was a good enough answer for Heejin to know what she was thinking. She could hear Kim Lip's thoughts from the passenger seat from how loud the thoughtful expression on her bruised face was, and she let her have her moment to collect them because she knew that she would want the same thing done for her.

"I have always cared for Jinsol." Kim Lip admitted with a heavy tone as if she were confessing to murder, her entire body sinking into her seat. "We used to be close, and she was always a dumbass who couldn't take care of herself. Saerim would get so mad at her for it... and I guess I would be the one to look after what was left of her in the aftermath. Let's just say that life with Saerim as your ruler wasn't the most pleasant of things, and it can change you in ways you don't even know after having to watch so much blood being spilled. It was too late for me -- I was with her from the day that I was brought to the surface of the earth -- but Jinsol... she still had that bit of good that keeps a person human." The corner of her mouth tugged up into a half-wistful smile, though it was gone in a second. "No one would want that to be taken away from someone you care about. So I gave her the solace that she needed to find in someone when she needed it."

Heejin thought for a while how heartbreaking it must be to go from something that sounded so wonderful to... well, being scared that you were going to die at the hands of that person even if you just showed up at their house. It made her wonder if that would ever happen to her and Hyunjin. How would Hyunjin react when she found out the truth? Would she hate her just as much as Jinsoul hated Kim Lip? Would she take her anger out on her physically?

Deep down, despite feeling like a masochist, she wouldn't ever blame Hyunjin for anything and would even allow her to do so if it made her feel better.

"It's only natural that my care turned into something more, right?" Kim Lip sounded unsure of herself, as if she were seeking comfort and confirmation.

"Yeah, of course." Heejin gave it to her without hesitating, straightening in her seat. "When you spend so much of your efforts looking after someone for so long, it's normal for something other than care to develop."

Kim Lip looked relieved when she heard the words, as if the burden had only just been alleviated despite all of this having happened more than two centuries ago. It made Heejin's heart weep for her, being able to relate to her situation.

"Do you think that -- I don't know -- Jinsoul felt the same?" When Heejin suggested the idea, Kim Lip let a scornful laugh fall from her lips.

"Oh, that's one of the only things which I am sure about." Kim Lip said, a bitter tone in her voice that sounded like it could sting Heejin's skin if turned to venom. "What led Jinsol to her downfall wasn't her obsession with humanity after she was turned. It was Saerim finding out about the object of her affections and the life she was trying to create with him. And that wasn't me." Heejin hid her grimace when she heard the distraught in her wavering voice. "It would never be me. But I realized that the first time she came back to Saerim's palace with his name on her lips, and I had accepted it when she had held him in her arms for the last time and still with his name on her lips."

Heejin wondered what had happened to Jinsoul's lover. Judging from the guilt in Jungeun's voice and how she described Jinsoul back when she still had that 'good' that she was talking about, she made an assumption as to the events that took place back then: the reason for Jungeun's guilt and her 'unforgivable act' may be because she was the very cause for Jinsoul's lover's death.

If that were true, then she would only begin to fully understand Jinsoul in that moment.

"Jinsol lost a lot more than her lover that day, and I-" She audibly heard Kim Lip's throat closing up, refusing to let anything else out.

Respectfully, she turned her head away and instead watched as the buildings began to become more sparse. They were distancing more and more from the center of the city and out to the suburbs, though Heejin knew that their final destination was up to the mountains that overlooked the whole city. There, she would be able to find out what had happened to Hyunjin and Yerim, and she'd be able to put her mind to rest once and for all. As soon as she saw Hyunjin, she would tell her the truth. She didn't want them to become like Jinsoul and Kim Lip.

After several minutes, Kim Lip gave a sharp inhale and allowed her posture to become rigid once more. "We have bigger problems than that, now." She said in the same stoic voice she had addressed her with earlier. "I'm almost certain that whatever your friend back there turned into wasn't Yves, which means that someone let another deity loose onto earth again."

Heejin felt her migraine returning, and she tried willing it away like the nuisance it was. "Wouldn't it have been easier to deal with the problem when it was there?"

Kim Lip hummed in mild agreement, thought she still tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "I agreed not to do anything daft without Jinsol's agreement. The reason why I paid her a visit was to come up with a plan -- everything has been a little strange these past couple of months. We know something is coming."

Heejin pursed her lips. The government had sounded like they were planning an attack on the syndicate from the conversations she overheard from her parents.

"Plus, I doubt that we would have been able to handle a deity's power on our own." Kim Lip added, expression grim as she drove up the secluded road. "From my experience, its best that we gather a large group of powerful people to contain them."

Not knowing anything about this field of expertise, Heejin just nodded and let the silence settle over them. She had known that there was something off about Chaewon from the moment she first saw her, she just hadn't expected herself to be right. Which meant that she had probably lied to them about her background about growing up in a hospital, which then meant that she had lied about her reasons of being transferred, which then confused everything else entirely.

She remembered Yerim saying how they had met in middle school; Chaewon had said she didn't go to middle school.

What was the relationship between Yerim and Chaewon, then?

Why would Choi help transfer Chaewon into school?

What the fuck was Chaewon?

What did she want with Hyunjin?


	16. sixteen

_The air inside Jinsoul's room was refreshing in comparison to the chlorine around the swimming pool in the lower level, which was hot and humid and stuck to Hyunjin's skin. Admittedly, she'd started sneezing just five minutes after getting out due to the change in temperature, which resulted in Jinsoul shouting at her from the study to get in the shower and wash off all the chlorine. Still, being able to float around in the clear, illuminated surface of water was more liberating than Hyunjin had expected it to be, and she found herself being able to think about Heejin and her reaction to her being a monster more easily._

_Jinsoul's shampoo smelt of citrus and her conditioner of sweet cream that wafted into her nose even as she dried her hair meticulously with the fluffy white towel. Her bedroom had the faint scent of incense, which Jinsoul had lit to 'keep the bad spirits away' (Hyunjin wasn't sure if that was a dig at Jungeun for being a demon or not, so she just rolled her eyes and let her creator do as she pleased), yet it smelt surprisingly calming._

_"You finished getting dressed?" Jinsoul asked as she sauntered into the room._

_Hyunjin looked up from her lap where her hands were rubbing at her hair to see the blonde woman's arms holding several boxes and objects coated in thin layers of dust. "Even if I wasn't, you still would have burst in like that." She said, looking at her creator with a deadpan look that showed her mild irritation._

_Rolling her eyes, Jinsoul set the boxes down on the mattress before following by throwing herself onto it beside Hyunjin. Her added weight caused Hyunjin to bounce from the momentum. "Come on, there's nothing to really see."_

_Hyunjin shoved her shoulder hard as soon as Jinsoul stabilized herself, causing her to let out a small squeal as she slid across the bed from the force and pulled at the blue covers beneath them. She settled her with a hard glare, but both of them knew that they were only playing around even as she threateningly raised a fist as if to hit her. "I don't know what you're trying to say here, Unnie, but can I just remind you that I'm stronger than you?"_

_"Ugh." Jinsoul sunk back into the comfortable mattress with a loud scoff, staring up at the ceiling in mock annoyance. "There you go again, flaunting just how strong you are." Hyunjin let a prideful smirk settle on her lips as she looked down at the older woman, the reminder that she had beaten her while they were wrestling just the other day making her feel better about herself. "I still think that it's because it's been a long time since I even did anything that involves fighting. You're a little scoundrel, you probably get into brawls every day."_

_"You couldn't be more wrong." Hyunjin laughed, dropped her towel into her lap after becoming tired of the tedious task._

_"Whatever." Jinsoul pushed herself up from the bed with a hand before crawling behind Hyunjin. "You're still a Kitten to me now matter what, so..."_

_"Oh my god..." Hyunjin groaned reaching back to slap Jinsoul's thigh. "I told you I don't like that nickname."_

_Of course, it wouldn't be Jinsoul if she actually listened to what Hyunjin said to her. "Cutie Kitten~" With her fists, she pushed them against Hyunjin's cheeks so they squished together and continued to coo near her ear even as Hyunjin leant away from her. "You and your harmless little fangs~ oh how cute!"_

_Hyunjin pulled a face when she managed to restrain Jinsoul's hands, raising her eyebrows judgmentally. "What the hell is that voice? You sound like you just had fifteen helium balloons."_

_Exaggeratedly, Jinsoul stuck out her lower lip and curved her eyebrows in an arc. "You're hurting Jindollie's feelings."_

_Hyunjin let out another loud groan as she let herself fall backwards into Jinsoul's body, planting the bottom of her feet on the mattress so she'd be purposefully crushing her underneath her weight. With the way the older woman let out small shrieks of despair, one would think that they were listening to a pair of teenage girls squabbling about while they were having a sleep over. The two eventually burst into laughter as Jinsoul did her best to wrestle Hyunjin off of her, but failed to do so when Hyunjin essentially grabbed a fistful of the bed sheets to keep her trapped in a make-shift burrito blanket._

_"Release me, you fiend!" Jinsoul shouted as she squirmed in the messy bed sheet covers. Hyunjin continued to laugh as she spun around in her place (effectively managing to get a mouthful of her wet hair in the other's mouth in the process) and secured the wrap so only the top of Jinsoul's head could be seen. "And to think that I was going to do you the kind favor of drying your hair!"_

_"Nuh uh." Hyunjin shook her head stubbornly, watching amusedly as the blonde continued to look for a way out. "You were being mean to me, so now you're getting time out."_

_Jinsoul stopped moving and looked at her with a blunt expression. "'Time out'?"_

_"Yup, you've been behaving badly." The younger of the two nodded vehemently, trying to keep her lips from parting in a wide grin._

_It seemed to have annoyed Jinsoul a lot, because she was suddenly fixing her with the cobalt blue glare that made her sanguisuge nature submit to her creator. "Hyunjin," she said with control dripping from her voice, "let me go right this second."_

_Unaffected, Hyunjin pretended to look away from her and off to the horizon the large curtain windows presented of the city. "Or what?"_

_"Or this."_

_Jinsoul whispered several words and a strong force washed over Hyunjin, forcing her to release the hold that she had on the covers completely, which allowed Jinsoul to rapidly shoot up from her imprisonment and promptly use her speed to tackle her back onto the bed. Hyunjin's breath was knocked out of her lungs at the surprise of the sudden attack, but when she gasped to regain it an involuntary laugh was obligated out of her stomach. Mercilessly, Jinsoul tickled at her sides while restraining her movement with the strength of her legs pinning her waist to the back of the bed, forcing Hyunjin to inevitably suffer her fate to death by tickles._

_"Stop! Stop!" Hyunjin almost screamed, tears brimming her eyes at the pain in her stomach though the grin she was wearing almost splitting her face in half from the happiness behind it. "It- it hurts! Ya! Stop it!"_

_For once, Jinsoul listened to her request. But she was still glaring at her with the chilling blue glare, a raised eyebrow hinting at her displeasure. "'Ya'? Did you just informally address me?" A smile threatened to ruin her stern expression, but she suppressed it by quickly pouting her lips hastily. "I think the Kitten needs to learn who the master is around here."_

_More laughter erupted and a tear slipped out of Hyunjin's closed eyes as Jinsoul continued to tickle her, both her entire stomach and throat hurting from the strain being put on them. Both of them shared the same large, wide grins making their cheeks hurt from the pressure it put on their muscles, though they didn't seem to mind with the light atmosphere in the room. It was a stark contrast to the foul mood they had been in when they came back from the Kim Estate._

_"Now, are you going to let your Unnie dry your hair or are you going to be sick again?" Jinsoul halted her playful torture, looking like a reprimanding mother._

_It reminded Hyunjin of when her mother would tell her to dry her hair immediately after getting out of the shower otherwise she would catch a cold from being cold. (Hyunjin hadn't seen the science behind it, but had listened to her anyway just to please her.) The memory left her with a tinge of nostalgia in her chest, but the addictive feeling of happiness and serotonin completely overwhelmed it and allowed the cheerful expression to remain on her face even as she thought about her mother._

_Surprisingly, the past couple of days where her and Jinsoul bonded over training, had led to her warming up to her as a person rather than as a sanguisuge. It had left a strange emotion inside of her mind that she didn't exactly know how to deal with. For one, Jinsoul was the one who had seized her life in her hands and completely changed it without as much as a question of whether she would be okay with it. But ever since then, she had been looking after her as if she mattered more than Hyunjin would ever be able to comprehend, and she couldn't necessarily deny this kind of treatment when it was exactly what she was looking for. (Sanguisuge nature or not.)_

_Hyunjin let herself settle in between Jinsoul's extended legs as the latter tugged the fluffy white blanket towards her. "What's in those boxes?" She referred to the cardboard boxes the blonde had been carrying on her way in._

_"Hm..." Distractedly, Jinsoul began to dry at the dark brown strands of Hyunjin's hair. "I thought that it would be a good idea to tell you more about my past."_

_Silence settled over them as Hyunjin momentarily moved out of Jinsoul's reach to drag the boxes over to where she was sitting. Once she was back in her position, Jinsoul continued to carefully wring her wet hair. The pleasant, sore feeling left behind by traces of laughter allowed the silence to warm into a comfortable one, the sounds of the murmuring swimming pool two floors downstairs still being heard and the very faint sounds of birds chirping away in their trees playing as the background sound._

_Hyunjin rummaged through the variety of objects all massed together in one compartment, spinning each thing around curiously. With every object that she pulled out, Jinsoul would tell her a memory attached to it -- even if it was vague due to the length of time between then and now._

_For example, how a small pocket mirror with an extremely worn image of the American flag on the back of it was tied to her time in the US some time after the Korean War, because she hadn't wanted to stay for something as chaotic as a broken nation. Hyunjin listened intently to how she described the country back then, and how her time in Los Angeles had encouraged her to learn a little English. (Hyunjin had made her try to say a couple of sentences, but they established that she hadn't really remembered much due to the lack of practice.) She listened to Jinsoul talk about the couple that had been kind enough to take her in during her stay there, and the comradery she had formed with the man over their distaste for the violence and brutality of war, which led to both he and his fiancee to give her the pocket mirror as a souvenir._

_They continued through several other objects, Jinsoul having reached across her to grab the hairbrush she had brought to untangle Hyunjin's hair for her, each one having its own little meaning that just made Hyunjin realize more and more that Jinsoul had lived a life too: a tattered postcard from France, just a year after 1889 when the Eiffel Tower opened and it became a phenomenon that Jinsoul "just had to see"; an old, small radio from Germany, during its Golden Years between the First World War and the Second when Berlin was in its prime globally; one of the original copies of Dracula (Hyunjin had burst out laughing at the irony) from 1897, which Jinsoul had gotten from an enforced syndicate visit to Ireland when word got out about someone writing about sanguisuges._

_"What is this?" Hyunjin asked, lifting a strange pendant from the bottom of the box. It was made from dark wood, shined over with some kind of wax and was circular shaped with beautiful, intricate patterns in it._

_Jinsoul paused momentarily from where she was mindlessly smoothing over a piece of hair on Hyunjin's head and leant closer to examine the object she was holding up. With her front resting against Hyunjin's back, she reached around her and carefully took the pendant between her fingers._

_Hyunjin watched as Jinsoul smoothed her thumb over the pendant, almost as if she were emotionally tied to this particular item._

_"This is from the time when I was first turned." Jinsoul said, voice wistful and distant._

_Tensing slightly, Hyunjin observed each and every detail carved into the material most likely more than two-hundred-years-old. To think that something this meaningful and so full of history had lasted this long into an age where technology and science was available was mind-blowing, and the inner nerd inside of Hyunjin slightly freaked out at the artifact._

_"What's the story behind this one?" Hyunjin asked quietly, noting the change in mood._

_"It's a long one, this one." Jinsoul hummed, resting her chin on her shoulder and letting Hyunjin hold the pendant. Instead, she wrapped her arms loosely around her waist and let her entire weight rest against the younger girl's back, as if drained of all of her energy from having looked at the piece of jewelry. "But I'll summarize it."_

_Hyunjin nodded in agreement, leaning back against Jinsoul's weight so that they would be balanced together. The rough edges of each carving underneath the flesh of the pads of her thumb felt like words were being spoken to her, and she wondered what the symbolism behind the pattern was._

_"When my creator had turned me into a sanguisuge, it had changed my entire life completely." Jinsoul began, her voice almost physically sinking into the air. "My humanity was stripped from me, and I could no longer let myself be around people the way I used to, because I wasn't taught how to keep my fangs in or how to control the color of my eyes. Wherever I went, humans would be terrified of what I was, no matter if I had the intention to hurt them or not -- which I didn't. I had to live in my creator's shadow and watch the world crumble and burn around me, and I had to do so alone. I felt so, so alone. And J-Jung- the only friend that I had succumbing to Saerim's desires and making the entire situation worse by bringing something that shouldn't be touched into the world... it just proved exactly how alone I was._

_"Until I met Chanwoo. He was the only person who could look me in the eye despite of what I was, and he accepted me even though I could see that he was scared to do so. It wasn't long until I was visiting him every day after that -- at his palace, because he just happened to have royalty in his blood. His oldest brother was the distant heir to the throne, and his other brothers made it so he would be free to marry as he pleased. So he spent most of his days teaching me to read, and how to hunt using weapons so I wouldn't have to drink the human blood my creator gave me, because he understood that I didn't want that life and said he wanted to give me the best life he could that wouldn't have to be anything like that, so I was obviously smitten._

_"We spent five summers together until he presented me with this: a symbol of his family emblem. The world would not allow us a proper marriage, because I was the monster that they told the children about to keep them in their beds at night, and he was from a prominent family with reputation and an image to upkeep. But we were ready to start a life together, and he said he did not care for what anyone would say. He wanted us to run away to a summer home of his friend and there we could live peacefully. I agreed. And I thought that it would work after the first summer, because there were no signs of stress from his family, which meant we were free."_

_Hyunjin clasped the pendant in her hand tightly, feeling the curve of its shape in her hand. She could hear the 'but' in Jinsoul's tone as she trailed off, and she found herself praying that nothing bad would happen but she knew exactly how this story would end. After all, had it been another way, Chanwoo would probably still be here today._

_"But I forgot about Saerim's obsession with me while I lost myself in Chanwoo. So she sent the person I would least expect to track me down and 'put me in place'."_

_Hyunjin felt moisture on her shoulder melting through the fabric of her shirt. She felt Jinsoul give a shuddering breath before she collected herself again._

_"Imagine my surprise when I opened the front door of my home to find my best friend." The mirth in Jinsoul's voice sounded bitter, almost as if it shouldn't really be there at all. "I hadn't seen Jungeun in a year, and she just turned up with that same old smile on her face she used to wear when we'd escape Saerim together --before she helped her destroy the world. And I-I had missed it so much. I had missed her so, so much that I let my guard down." Jinsoul tightened her hold around Hyunjin's waist, burying her face into her shoulder as sorrow tore through her throat. "I let my goddamned guard down when I shouldn't have and I payed the price for it in the cruelest of ways."_

_Hyunjin dropped the pendant onto the bed and instead gripped at Jinsoul's hand on her waist, holding it as Jinsoul's body shook against hers._

_"Jungeun had them killed." Hyunjin's blood froze in her veins at the confirmation while Jinsoul just continued to suppress her cries. "She led Saerim to where I was and she just watched as they died in front of me- even as I begged her to let them go- for her to stop Saerim before more blood was spilt- to at least save her even after Chanwoo was dead-"_

_A lump formed in Hyunjin's throat. She could feel Jinsoul's pain even as she suppressed any signs of her crying, and she wasn't sure what to make of it._

_Jinsoul sighed heavily, shaking her head softly against Hyunjin's shoulder as if to rid herself of the thoughts in her mind. "I had already lost a family once." She spoke quietly, calmly, as if she were used to the pain. "To lose it twice, to the same person, to my best friend..."_

_Not being able to handle it anymore, Hyunjin pried Jinsoul's arms from her waist and spun around in her place. Instead of the clear, clean tear tracks Hyunjin had expected to see, she saw crimson stained tears like how when they had left the Kim Estate. She met Jinsoul's shimmering eyes, and broken expression and felt her shoulders lose their strength as a wave of pity that surged through her. Hyunjin wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into her chest, where Jinsoul let herself cry openly._

_Hyunjin brushed the back Jinsoul's head just as she had been doing for her all this time. She wasn't sure what to think about Jungeun now that she knew what she had done, but all she knew was that she understood Jinsoul's anger towards her._

_"Unnie, you don't have to be alone anymore." Hyunjin didn't know if it was her or the sanguisuge nature speaking for her as she said the next words. "I can be your family now."_

_The grip around Hyunjin's back tightened, and Hyunjin just let herself sink against Jinsoul._

-

When the door opened, the first face to greet them was the same short-haired woman with glasses who had named herself Haseul. Heejin hadn't spoken to her at all, and had only seen her when she had been dissecting the woman's body two nights ago with such developed expertise that she almost didn't want to know where it came from. However, when her exhausted eyes scanned both Heejin's and Kim Lip's panic-stricken faces with caution, Heejin noticed a familiar hint of intelligence and care behind the dirty spectacles.

"Kim Lip-ssi." Haseul addressed the older woman first, and Heejin wasn't at all offended by this since she was just one of Hyunjin's friends who had no rights in being there. Still, she couldn't help but be a little antsy to scavenge the unfamiliar house up and down like a search dog. "I'm not sure you're allowed to be here..."

Beside Heejin, Kim Lip huffed quietly under her breath a foreign sounding curse word before straightening her posture confidently. "Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful but something happened which could affect everything negatively, so we really don't have enough time to ask ourselves whether Jinsol wants me here or not."

Haseul's facial expression, which had been professionally cold and stoic, crumbled at the sound of something going wrong. Heejin couldn't help herself when she stepped a little to the side to see into the house when the woman let the door slip from her grasp slightly. "A lot happened this morning for us too." She sounded absolutely worn out, if the bags defined under her angular eyes were anything to go by, and Heejin almost wanted to go and support her weight before she completely collapsed in the threshold of the house. "It's going to take a lot to explain, so please don't do anything drastic."

Confusion settled over Heejin as the two women exchanged silent looks of agreement. Though she was able to understand where the scientist's worries were coming from when she was greeted with something she wouldn't have ever expected to see.

"Hyunjin?"

Before any rational thought could take control over Heejin's impulses, she rushed into the spacious room and made a straight beeline for Hyunjin. Hyunjin, who was bloody, and bruised, and unconscious and tied up against a wooden chair with thick, black rope.

Her heart was pounding a thousand miles a second in her chest, only thoughts of confirming that Hyunjin was alive and okay passing through her mind in time to each deliberate drum of her heart. If she was tied up, then it meant that she had to be alive for her to be viewed as a threat. What she didn't understand was why she would even be restrained in the first place, especially in the place where she had said she lived among the people she had trusted so willingly just a few nights ago.

Heejin didn't even get within five meters of Hyunjin before she was being held back by a familiar, warm body and the same brown waves of hair falling carefully over a shoulder. "No, let me go." She struggled stubbornly against the hold, trying to claw her way out of it in order to reach Hyunjin with a one-track mind. It only worried her even more when she registered the way she looked like she was in desperate need of help, with all of the injuries her limp body was donning.

"Unnie, you need to calm down." When Yerim's familiar yet strained voice reached her ears, she managed to snap her head towards her. She was giving her a weighted, worried look that Heejin didn't even begin to understand because why would she be doing this to her? Why would she be doing this to Hyunjin?

"Yerim, wh-what the hell? What the hell happened last night?" Heejin grabbed at Yerim's elbows, gripping them tight until her knuckles tinted white from the pressure. In all honesty, she was extremely relieved that both girls were alive and breathing after facing the monstrosity from the night before, but the only thing running over and over in her mind were worries about Hyunjin and whether she was alive. "Why is Hyunjin tied up?"

Yerim's face, which had already been painted an expression of dread and mild guilt, managed to fall harder at the series of questions. Heejin desperately searched her eyes, hoping to find the familiar brightness that had always been there whenever they interacted but finding nothing but darkness and pity. But pity for what? For Heejin? For Heejin being so worried about Hyunjin being tied up when it was the most rational thing to do?

Behind her, footsteps hit the expensive wooden floorboards with determination and outrage, and Kim Lip was standing at her side in just a matter of seconds. "Can someone explain what the fuck is going on?" Kim Lip asked, the same confusion that Heejin was feeling showing in her demanding voice.

Heejin glanced around the room to the other figures who were quietly watching the scene unfold in front of them with equally dark expressions on their faces. As if attending a funeral.

God, Heejin didn't want that morbid thought in her mind.

Haseul had closed the front door behind them and was hesitantly walking closer to them with a tablet screen clutched tightly to her chest as if she were using it as protection against any potential harm. The way she looked at the two newcomers was with one of slight guilt, but Heejin could distinguish the air of justice that she brought about her the more she glanced at the glowing screen.

The last person Heejin had expected to see in a situation as messed up as this was the young girl from the other day -- Yeojin. She was extremely small in stature and had a face full of untainted innocence that didn't deserve to ever be stained by the horrors of the vampire world which her sister seemed to be deeply entangled in. Despite that, she held herself with a contradicting sense of maturity as she leant against the arm of the long, leather couch with her arms crossed, her gaze on Heejin and Kim Lip holding a little judgemental air. The fact that she was still sporting her own school uniform didn't help how Heejin's mind immediately went to comparing her to that group of girls at school who had a tendency for judging others for fun.

Who she had been expecting, Jinsoul, the owner of the very house they were in, wasn't even in the large room.

Instead, an unfamiliar girl stood towering beside Yeojin with the same school uniform and an even further intimidating expression. Heejin hadn't ever seen her face around here before, which was irritably unreadable and managed to look more bored of the situation if anything, as if it were a regular occurrence that was easy to be tired of. Her long dark, black hair framed her face in a carelessly neat manner, accentuating her drooping feline eyes that glared critically at Heejin as if she were a piece of gum stuck on the bottom of her expensive-looking shoe. The choker comfortably hugging the column of her neck didn't do anything to help the daunting aura she was giving off, and her naturally pouty, parted lips surprisingly didn't do much to soften the image she was airing.

Fazed by the menacing glares, Heejin gulped and stepped out of Yerim's hold. It was her pride and her mother's words that encouraged her to at least hold the unnamed girl's gaze, challengingly maintaining eye contact until she would look away first.

"Is there something I should know about this?" Kim Lip's voice was growing increasingly irritated when no one answered her. It seemed like she too was shocked by the situation, which did nothing to calm the relentless beating in Heejin's chest, because she was the one who was supposed to have all the information.

Yerim glanced uncertainly behind Heejin, where Haseul was stood, as if searching for confirmation. When she looked back at them, it was with a newfound hint of confidence.

"The test results for the DNA on the woman's body came back." Yerim said. Heejin didn't like the abrupt bluntness to her voice. "They belonged to Hyunjin."

What.

Oh.

Wait.

"How?" Heejin burst after several seconds of dead silence, her voice round with indignation. "Are you saying that Hyunjin killed the woman? An innocent woman who she knew? That she was the one who basically ripped her body apart like the mutt we saw yesterday?"

Yerim's expression faltered when Heejin charged at her. "Unnie, calm down-" 

"This is so messed up! How the hell could Hyunjin have done that when it's not even in her character?" Heejin's voice was raising, desperate to prove her point. "There must be something wrong with those results because they're not even true- are you even listening to yourself?"

Yerim's hands moved to hold her upper arms, restraining them from doing something she'd probably regret later. "I don't know why Hyunjin did what she did." The rage inside of Heejin was only fuelled further with the words. This was ridiculous. "All we know is the test results, and the test results said that her DNA was all over the woman's neck wounds."

Enraged, Heejin ripped herself out from Yerim's grip.

It was impossible for Hyunjin to have killed the woman when she too had been so affected by it. When she had been the one to almost die fighting off the true killer of the innocent woman: the strange monster that had attempted to claw and mutilate Hyunjin's body the same way. Heejin knew that Hyunjin couldn't have ever caused the same injuries, because she was Hyunjin and because she wasn't a monster.

What she didn't understand was why Yerim was saying these things so wholeheartedly when she had been there herself and had experienced the wrath of the savage thing. Didn't she understand that it was that what had killed the woman? Yerim was intelligent -- as well as she was probably a hundred-years-old -- it wouldn't be too difficult to connect the dots. (Heejin had done so quite easily.) But here she was, spouting lies about how Hyunjin had been the one to murder an innocent woman just because some DNA results had said that it was that.

Nausea swept over Heejin the more she thought about it.

Yerim's face crumbled under the pressure of the abhorrence in Heejin's unhinged glare, managing to at least show some traces of guilt. "I'm sorry, Heejin-unnie, but that's what the results showed. You have to believe me."

She wasn't breaking.

She truly believed that Hyunjin had done it.

Heejin laughed at the ridicule of it all. The tears welling in her eyes at the injustice threatened to fall, yet she was laughing at the situation like a madwoman.

"I know it's hard to believe but new sanguisuge find it hard to control their urges-"

"They learn to control their urges by the first month! Hyunjin isn't a rabid monster!" Heejin snapped. Her heart was aching painfully in her chest at the thought of Hyunjin actually having done it, but a more rational part of her telling her that the Hyunjin that she knew wouldn't have ever dared to lay a hand on someone that didn't deserve it.

Even when Hyunjin had been turned the first night, she hadn't dared sink her teeth into Heejin's neck. She hadn't mauled her body into tiny, little pieces. She hadn't even dared tear her sink open to let a single droplet of blood from her body despite how much she probably wanted to, so how could she have lost control more than a month later?

Kim Lip, who had been quietly mulling over the words as if in shock, slowly turned to look at her with a narrowed gaze. "How do you know that?"

The change of topic left Heejin paralyzed in her place.

"How do you know that about sanguisuges?" Kim Lip rephrased the question, but Heejin had understood what she had been trying to say in the first place.

The information had just suddenly appeared in her mind after having read so many of the books her father had given her to study vampires, and she had said it aloud to dispute Yerim's point. But Kim Lip didn't know that. No one knew that, because otherwise they'd know why she was studying vampires in the first place and then they'd know what she was doing there. And despite having promised that she'd tell Hyunjin the truth as soon as she saw her, she knew that if she ever told anyone but her she'd end up dead.

Heejin clenched her jaw, willing her heart to remain calm. She had read how vampires were able to detect when a person was lying because of their heartbeats, so she didn't want Yerim to discover that truth.

"Hyunjin told me." She said firmly, looking Kim Lip dead in the eyes to prove her point. It wasn't anything she should be proud of, but Heejin was a good liar. Good enough to throw Kim Lip off her tail and get her to nod. (Albeit a little suspiciously, but still a nod nonetheless.)

It was only when Yerim, after several beats of her just scanning her expression, looked away from her that Heejin allowed herself to relax.

At that moment, the red-haired woman from the other night walked into the room from a door that had previously been firmly closed. Heejin didn't know where it lead, but the mere suggestion that she had been there the whole time managed to unnerve her a lot more, having it never been clarified to her whether she was a human or a vampire or whatever other species that Heejin didn't know about. There was an air of mystery to her that Heejin didn't like, because then it meant that she knew nothing about her and whether she was dangerous or not.

"Kim Lip." The woman, Vivi, greeted Kim Lip familiarly but with a sense of formality that hid any sense of comradery. "It's a surprise to see you here, if I'm being honest."

Kim Lip, who had calmed down after listening to Yerim's explanation (much to Heejin's desperate annoyance), sent a half-playful glare at Vivi. "Don't waste your breath, Viian, your girlfriend already tried telling me just how much Jinsol detests me."

Heejin, feeling belittled and out of place in a room full of strong personalities and abilities, tried hiding her anger and let herself watch the scene unfold in front of her. She wanted nothing more than to break Hyunjin out of the strange black sandy substance encasing her in a what looked like a ritual-like circle. The whole thing was as if some black magic were involved to begin an exorcism, and she wondered whether vampires were part of a secret cult that enjoyed possessing their own.

Vivi paused momentarily at Kim Lip's words, obviously having acknowledged whatever jest that the woman had just made at her, before continuing to walk nearer to where they stood. "And maybe you should have considered Haseul's words more carefully." She glared at her, as if warning her slightly.

Tensing at the thickness in the air, Heejin's eyes darted between Kim Lip and Vivi. What Kim Lip had told her on the way over to Jinsoul's house had been surprising and slightly shell-shocking, but it had made Heejin's heart warm considerably at the woman's emotions that seemed to run deeper than anything Heejin had ever seen before. Even though she didn't know much about the situation, she could tell that the woman didn't really appreciate being told that the person she loved hated her and didn't want to be anywhere near her.

Surprisingly, Vivi's expression brightened along with the sudden smile on her lips. "I was actually just about to call you over." The smile disappeared just as quick as it had appeared, however, and was replaced with a deep frown that cast a shadow over her weary eyes. "We had to make her unconscious because she was too strong for us to hold back."

At the sound of Hyunjin resisting against what was happening to her, pain and fury ignited in Heejin's chest. Images of Hyunjin hopelessly struggling against false accusations with no one to back her up and believe her running in her mind only made the pain deepen further.

Beside her, Yerim slipped her hand into hers and clenched it tightly.

Heejin snapped her head towards her, about to tell her not to touch her, when Yerim mouthed something at her.

'Trust me.'

Conflicted, Heejin rapidly glanced between their clasped hands and the comforting expression on Yerim's face. She wanted nothing more than to take out her frustrations and anger out on her, but she had already said hurtful things to Chaewon this morning and that had led her to turning into something that wasn't human. Still, there was some left over resentment that she held for Yerim due to her being capable of getting Hyunjin out of the situation. But she couldn't deny that she knew she had no power when she was in a house full of vampires. She also knew that Yerim had been lying.

Not like she hadn't been doing the same.

Reluctantly, Heejin let herself relax in Yerim's hold, deciding to look away from her entirely. Despite that, the worry that had been there all day driving her to near insanity about whether she was okay or not let her forget everything for a second, and she squeezed her hand tightly as a silent way of saying, 'I'm glad you're okay'.

"Well, with a spell this powerful, I doubt she's getting out any time soon." Kim Lip remarked nonchalantly, approaching the circle of black sand and crouching beside it curiously. Out of the corner of Heejin's eye, she saw the unfamiliar girl shift in her place nervously as if she were about to stop Kim Lip from touching the substance, an irritated look on her face. "I don't think I've seen anything like this before. At least not on earth."

Vivi nodded pensively, spacing out as she watched Hyunjin's slumped figure with pity deep in her eyes. "It was necessary." The certainty made Heejin bite her lip tightly, holding back any bitter words daring to spew out. "She's strong for a newborn. Too strong."

Kim Lip stood back up, keeping her air of carelessness despite the obvious panic that had been marring her entire body on the drive over. "I noticed that when she woke up -- when you brought her to my home." She said, now looking at Hyunjin too. Heejin didn't enjoy the way they just blankly stared at her, as if she were a piece of art they could just watch when she was a person just like them, with emotions and feelings. "She looks like she's injured too -- three of you couldn't hold her back even in this condition?"

Heejin didn't think that the strong aura Vivi was wearing would give way to present a sheepish look. "No. We're not sure how, which is why we had to bring extra help."

A small, careful smirk tugged at Kim Lip's mouth, wary not to reopen the split lip. "And you decided to bring someone from the Middle World?"

Shock painted Vivi's features. There was a shot of fear that ran through her entire demeanor before she was collecting herself again and glancing in the direction of the leather couch.

Beside her, Yerim's grip slackened, as if surprised by the information too.

"Hey, Hyejoo-unnie is just a loner from school. Don't look at me like that." Yeojin piped up out of no where, holding up her hands as if she were being pointed at with a weapon. Her voice was surprisingly deep, and the slight comedy tinging into it threw Heejin off. Wasn't she at all fazed by the situation at hand? "What? She literally lives off of hot Cheetos and Sprite -- how was I supposed to know she's from the- 'whatever world'?"

Kim Lip's raised eyebrow gave away her slight amusement at the situation, yet she still wore a grave look on her face. "It's advanced black magic. I've only ever heard about it."

Vivi glared reproachingly at Yeojin. "When I told you to make friends, I didn't mean summoning a demon onto the surface of the earth and selling your soul to it."

The unfamiliar girl, Hyejoo, took a step towards them. Heejin almost shivered with the cold aura she was exuding, the intimidating glare that she was mercilessly giving to each and every person in the room managing to render everyone speechless. It was amazing the amount of control she managed to exert over everyone, including Kim Lip who was a demon, without even doing anything other than just existing. Heejin almost found herself becoming jealous of her ability, considering the possibility of having such power where she could use it to salvage Hyunjin from the situation.

She had everyone's attention, all wary of what she would say to break the thick silence in the air. From the way Kim Lip had been talking about the spell, and how Vivi had said it was the only thing keeping Hyunjin from breaking out, she expected the girl to be extremely powerful. The choker around her neck and her impossibly black hair just made her look ten times more unnerving, and Heejin expected her voice to be deep and solid and-

"I'm not her friend."

Heejin blinked. It was as if everything paused for several, tense seconds as everyone tried processing the voice that had come out of the girl's body. It had been nothing like what Heejin had been expecting, instead being a startlingly youthful, and almost squeaky voice.

Taking their surprised reactions as them being unconvinced, Hyejoo powered on. "I'm also not a demon." This time, she managed to make her voice sound a little deeper, most likely having cleared her throat to speak better.

"Hey! What do you mean you're not my friend? I shared my hotspot with you!" Yeojin whined from behind her, now truly behaving like her age.

"You're not a demon." Kim Lip said disbelievingly, almost as if asking a question instead of making a statement.

Hyejoo glanced back towards the small girl, scrunching her nose up at her before turning back to Kim Lip with a more serious expression coating her mature features. "I'm not a demon. I'm human. I don't know where you got that idea from. I mean, I obviously look human."

Kim Lip rolled her eyes, crossing her arms indignantly across her chest. "So do I, and I'm a demon." If Heejin didn't know any better, she'd think that the woman was offended by the offhanded comment that she'd made.

Completely unfazed, Hyejoo let her eyebrows ride up before settling back to that bored expression. "Congratulations." The sarcasm seeping in her voice almost made Heejin let her lips tug into a mirthful smile, but she controlled it and reminded herself of the graveness of the situation.

Evidently irritated by the clear disregard for her otherwise powerful specie, Kim Lip shifted in her place and fixed her expression into a stern one. "Alright, you're a human. So how can you perform dark magic this powerful if you're just a human then?"

Hyejoo looked almost pleased with herself at the mention of her magic being called 'powerful', the tiny smirk donning on her pouty lips looking irritating even to Heejin who had no involvement in the conversation. "I like to study black magic in my spare time. It helps me understand all the bullshit lore in one of the games that I play." At the deadpan look from both Vivi and Kim Lip, Hyejoo let herself become more serious. "That, and I have a... friend that helps me out."

At the mention of said 'friend', Heejin watched the choker around Hyejoo's neck tighten automatically and force Hyejoo to let out a heavy exhale, her eyes darkening considerably. She wasn't sure if anyone else noticed the small detail, but she decided to keep her mouth shut about it in case the other girl didn't want to be exposed like that.

"'A little friend'?" Kim Lip questioned, her voice tight. "Is that a demon?"

Almost as if she were amused, Hyejoo raised her eyebrows again. "What's with you obsession with demons? If you're homesick you can just break the deal with the human keeping you on earth and go home. I know they miss you there."

The air in the room thickened after the jest. Even Heejin could tell that that was something that should have never been mentioned.

Before Kim Lip could say anything, a familiar silvery voice interrupted her.

"Wouldn't be a wise decision if you ask me, otherwise I would end up dead."

Jinsoul emerged from the same room that Vivi had been in, taking everyone by surprise at the sudden appearance. Heejin almost let out a sound of acknowledgement when she saw Kim Lip's matching injuries on Jinsoul's body, a bruise on her jaw and red hand marks all over her exposed arms, courtesy of the white vest top she was wearing. Her bleached blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun, her expression looking tired under the small bruise on her right eye. (It wasn't nearly as bad as Kim Lip's, but it had evidently been enough to leave a visible mark on her skin.)

Hyejoo, to her credit, recovered quickly. "You're the human?"

An arrogant-like grin crossed Jinsoul's bruised face, though Heejin could tell that there was barely any life in her eyes. "No, I'm a sanguisuge. But I still managed to make a deal with the devil." Along with her words, Jinsoul reached for the edge of the vest top and tugged it down to expose more of her chest.

Heejin's eyes almost widened when she saw an intricate, beautiful mark tattooed into her skin. Except it almost looked as if it was engraved, rather than inked in like any other tattoo would have been, sitting deep in the pale skin above where Jinsoul's heart would be.

"Now, is this symphilian causing you any issues that I should know about?" Jinsoul settled Kim Lip with a cold, neon blue glare, dangerously raising her eyebrows as if challenging the demon to do anything.

Kim Lip looked slightly out of it. Heejin was watching her with a careful gaze now that she was aware of her feelings for the other woman, and she noticed how her previous strong demeanor had completely crumbled as soon as Jinsoul had uttered a word. Her gaze was planted at where Jinsoul's mark was on her chest, and Heejin assumed that it was likely because that was the thing that tied the two together -- if Heejin was using the information sprinkled around the conversation correctly.

Hyejoo, having felt the dominance asserted by Jinsoul as soon as she entered the room, chose not to say much more and instead shook her head quietly. Her eyes, however, amusedly observed Kim Lip and Jinsoul's little staring contest.

Yerim, who had been eerily quiet beside her, tightened her grip on her hand. Heejin could only assume it was because Kim Lip, her close sister-like figure, was facing off against a strong figure, but she wasn't too sure on that conclusion.

Finally snapping out of her stupor, Kim Lip faintly shook her head. "I need to talk to you." She said, catching Jinsoul off-guard with her straightforward comment. "I think that you should know this."

Heejin was aware about what exactly Kim Lip was talking about, suddenly remembering the reason why she had been taken along to Jinsoul's house in the first place. Somewhere out there, in the city below the mountains, was Chaewon with her newly-blonde hair and terrifying turquoise eyes doing god-knows-what. And from the way that the more experienced woman had reacted, Heejin had a feeling that it wasn't anything good.

Gravely, Jinsoul nodded, as if having seen that Kim Lip was dead serious about this. She glided out of the room and back to the room where she had come from, not glancing back to see if the other woman was following or not.

Once the two had closed the door behind them, Heejin felt herself becoming more focused on the topic at hand.

Her gaze immediately settled on Hyunjin's still unconscious body. She was still dressed in her school uniform, the chances of it being the exact same one from the day before alarmingly high. The white button up shirt was torn up by the claws of the monster from yesterday, and through it Heejin could faintly see healing scratches which had been deep cuts just a few hours ago. Despite being slightly used to the sight of blood on screen, seeing it brightly on Hyunjin's previously white shirt made her stomach lurch sickly, and the scratches done to her knees from the pavement looked horrible.

All she longed for was to step into that stupid circle and at least clean her up a little if she couldn't get her out of the situation. She had almost lost her mind at the thought of her being dead, but seeing her tied up as if she were a delinquent was no better.

"Please." She begged Yerim, gripping at her hand with a line of tears brimming her eyes. "Please let me go to her."

The look of pity that Yerim gave her made something inside Heejin's chest break, and she didn't think that she'd ever been more enraged at the other girl before in her two years of knowing her. She released her hand and moved towards the circle stubbornly.

Hyunjin didn't deserve any of this. She didn't deserve what she was getting. She didn't know how she could make them see that.

"Don't touch it." Hyejoo's voice stopped her from going any closer, the look on her face being mild annoyance. "You're going to break the spell if you break the circle."

Heejin clenched her jaw, most likely wearing an accidental pout on her face. She probably looked like a little child who wasn't getting their way, but she didn't really care when the girl that she loved was in pain. "Would that be so bad?"

"Look, I know that you care about her," Vivi stepped in, moving closer to where she was standing hopelessly, "trust me, we all do-"

"Then why are you doing this to her?" Heejin said.

Vivi's facade gave way, sadness showing clearly on her face. "It's for the best. She was resisting, and we didn't want to hurt her-"

"She is hurt! Can't you see it?" Heejin pointed towards Hyunjin's bloodied body, a tear managing to fall. Her throat closed up uncomfortably, and she took a steady breath to remove the feeling. "Aren't you supposed to be taking care of her? She trusted you- I- she- she..."

As soon as she had said the words -- had said that Hyunjin trusted them -- she felt herself become more self-aware.

Hyunjin trusted her. She trusted Heejin just like she trusted Jinsoul and Vivi and Yerim. And they had all broken her trust by doing this to her, and if Hyunjin found out that Heejin had broken her trust too, then she wouldn't ever forgive her. Would she?

"Jinsoul didn't want this, either." Vivi said plainly, though she rested a gentle hand on Heejin's shoulder for comfort. "But we have to wait until she wakes up, and then we'll see if she's telling the truth or not."

Heejin harshly wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hands, clenching and unclenching her jaw to stop herself from saying anything stupid. It wasn't fair for her to react this way when everyone else obviously cared for Hyunjin just as much as she did. Maybe not the same way that she did, but they certainly didn't want Hyunjin to die as Heejin had assumed when she had first seen her lying there. She had to remain strong. She had to be strong so that she would be able to support Hyunjin when she woke up.

She felt like a piece of her died the more she stared at Hyunjin's face, drinking all of her in as if she would never see her again.

The door to the room across the large room opened, and Jinsoul marched out with an urgent expression on her face. Her blonde hair was pulled out of her bun, now, and she reached for a coat hung on the railing of the stairs to shrug on over her bare shoulders. "We have a bigger problem." She announced to the rest of them, her voice commanding and determined. "Hyejoo." Said girl straightened from where she had been judgmentally observing Heejin, looking at the blonde with a hint of curiosity. "Would you be up for a different type of case? We need your black magic."

Vivi tensed, stepping towards Jinsoul with anxiety on her face. "What's wrong?"

Kim Lip, who had followed Jinsoul out, ruggedly wiped a hand down the profile of her face. "We have a deity to catch."

Simultaneously, Hyejoo and Yerim jumped from their place to move towards Jinsoul.

"A deity?" Yerim asked, her voice dripping with worry and panic.

"What deity?" Hyejoo pressed further, the first genuinely stressed expression managing to appear on her face. "Which one is it?"

Shifting in her place, Heejin watched the scenario unfold in front of her with wary eyes. She hadn't wanted to put Chaewon in danger, because she was still that sweet girl who so much as blushed the moment someone looked at her for a second too long, but she had to admit to herself that after watching the transformation, she couldn't say that she trusted her very easily.

Jinsoul, who had been quietly mulling over something inside her head, let out a heavy, burdensome sigh.

"Oh my god."

Kim Lip, ever attuned to whatever the blonde did, turned to look at her. "What?"

"You said she was blonde, right?" Jinsoul asked, addressing Kim Lip with familiarity.

"Yeah." The demon nodded, frowning confusedly.

"With eden green eyes?" Hyejoo interrupted, desperation beginning to seep into her voice.

Kim Lip's frown deepened further, blinking hesitantly. "That's one way to describe it, yeah..."

A beat of silence fell over the entire house as they processed the information. Jinsoul and Hyejoo's faces were pale as they met one another's eyes carefully, mutually making silent affirmations of the same person they were thinking about. Even Yerim's face had gone a sickly gray as she quietly watched everything play out.

"It's Gowon."


	17. seventeen

"Are you just going to leave her like that?" Heejin turned to Haseul, who was the only person left in the spacious living room with any piece of authority.

The rest of the women had disappeared into a different area of the house after Jinsoul's perplexing announcement of the deity's name, looking distressed and worrisome over coming up with a viable plan to 'capture' the being. Heejin, of course, had been left with no instructions nor words which would dictate what she could and couldn't do in the household that wasn't hers, so all she could do in the meantime was stand around just as uselessly as she felt. Haseul, however, had had Vivi walk up to her and whisper several words (Heejin hadn't heard) in her ear before she followed after the pack of women.

Of course, the woman's face was overcome with peculiarity and surprise when Heejin turned on her, though she quickly found herself returning the deadpan look. "We already explained that we can't let her go until she wakes up." She genuinely sounded apologetic, Heejin noticed, but it obviously wasn't enough for her to even consider the slimmest of chances to release Hyunjin from her position. "I understand that what you're going through right now is putting you under a lot of stress, but trust me that no matter what happens, Hyunjin's safety will be my first priority." Her warm brown eyes held a galling truth to them, yet Heejin couldn't relax her own from the squint she was glaring at her with. "I promise you when I tell you that even if it turns out to be true -- that Hyunjin did... kill that woman -- I will do my best to protect her."

"But what if I told you that there's no way that she did it?" Heejin insisted, resolute out of her mind of Hyunjin's innocence.

Haseul sighed ruefully, walking closer to her while beginning to turn on the tablet she had been holding in her arms. "There's physical proof of Hyunjin's DNA being on the woman's neck wound, sweetheart." Angling the bright white and blue screen so Heejin's disbelieving eyes could see, Haseul displayed complicated formulae and notes that she couldn't even begin to understand. "I don't think there's any other way of proving her innocence."

Feeling inept, Heejin rubbed at her eyes and stepped back from the tablet screen as if it were the very cause of the migraine currently slaughtering her brain into little pieces.

What if Hyunjin had done it? What if she had lied about it just to get her to go Jinsoul's house and... no, because then there wouldn't be enough motive for her other than trying to win her over... romantically?

No, that idea was not even a plausible one -- truthfully, Heejin didn't even know why she had thought of it in the first place. The more that it stayed in her mind, the more mindless it got, and the more that her cheeks began to warm at the reminder that they had actually kissed.

Heejin had finally kissed Hyunjin and she should really be feeling more giddy about this, most likely giggling about this with her friends because that's what people did when their crush finally kissed them. But here she was, standing in a house full of supernatural creatures while her potential girlfriend (even the thought made her want to jump up and down ecstatically, even though part of her scolded that it was not the time to be doing so) was knocked out cold and covered in her own blood.

She shouldn't even be thinking about this when Hyunjin needed her help. She should be trying to find a way to explain that she hadn't done it.

"Your name is Heejin, right?" Haseul asked from the kitchen island, where a carcass had been laying in a trash bag just a night ago. (Heejin could barely get the morbid image out of her head, and now she had to handle the new image of an unconscious Hyunjin.)

Surprised at the fact that she actually knew her name (and that someone was actually treating her like a person, for once), Heejin stared back at her with shock in her round eyes. "I- Yes, how did you know that?" She asked back. "I don't think I introduced myself the other night when I was here -- which I'm sorry for, by the way."

Haseul waved her off easily, her lips parting in a gentle smile that pushed her sharp eyes into crescents. "Don't mind it. It's kind of difficult to try and insert your opinion when all the 'grown-ups' are talking." When Heejin wordlessly tilted her head in response as a display of her confusion, Haseul sheepishly pushed her round glasses back up her nose. "You know, cause they're practically two-hundred-years-old while we're just... millennials."

The lofty laugh that came out of her mouth was slightly forced, but Heejin couldn't help but welcome it with open arms at the abrupt lightness that settled in the atmosphere. It made the pain in her chest ease almost magically, and she found herself breathing easier in the presence of the other woman. So she, too, let herself give a small reserved laugh. Though it felt slightly wrong to do so in a situation as dismal as this one, so Heejin let it sink into the air before glancing back towards Hyunjin's body once more.

"Oh god, you're so cringy." Yeojin, who had tried following Hyejoo out of the room when Jinsoul had led the pack to the stairs, spoke up from her place plastered on the couch. "You're not even a millennial, you're in the the Gen Z with me. Stop trying to look older than you are."

Heejin watched as Haseul's smile was completely wiped from her face the moment Yeojin spoke, the minor twitching in her eyebrow giving away her annoyance as well as her tensed jaw. "I'm twenty-two, Yeojin. Of course I'm older than you."

"No you're not, you're twenty-one." Yeojin rolled her eyes sassily as she pushed herself up from her stretched out position on the couch and decided to slump against it like a bored child dreadfully waiting for their dentist appointment. It almost made Heejin smile, the way that the younger girl completely disregarded everything around her and remained aloof to the cult-like setting laid out in front of her, though she found herself worrying away at what would ever happened if this innocence was ever taken away from her. "Your birthday isn't until August."

When Haseul rolled her eyes, Heejin almost thought she would send them flying to the other side of the room due to the force she did so with. "And you're still just a sixteen-year-old with two years left of high-school -- can I just remind you of who pays the taxes, and cooks your dinners, and takes care of your little baby-self?"

"Uh, duh, Vivi-unnie." The comeback was snapped back far too swiftly, and Heejin found herself letting out an involuntary chuckle at the witty back talk. Yeojin wasn't even smiling, she was just wearing the most serious expression as if it had been the most obvious answer in the world, but the amusement dancing in her eyes couldn't be kept hidden from the rest of the world. Even as Haseul was sputtering for an equally clever retort, the younger girl spoke over her in a loud voice. "Speaking of Vivi-unnie -- let's address the fact that the only reason why you, my dear sister, are even trying to act like you're older than you actually are is because Vivi-unnie is three-hundred-and-twenty-three and you don't want her to think that you're not worthy of being her sweet, dear lover-"

"It's not even like that!" Haseul tried to speak over her, though Heejin could tell that by her flaming red cheeks and flustered expression that the younger girl's words held some truth to them. When the spectacled woman shot a glance at her with a half-apologetic, half-sheepish grin, all Heejin could do was smile back in an amused manner. "One, me and Vivi are just friends -- work partners, even -- two, I'm not acting like I'm older than I actually am." With her eyebrows raised, Yeojin just quietly stared back at her as if not believing a word that was coming out of her sister's mouth. "Also, she's three-hundred-and-twenty-two, so..."

"Oh!" Yeojin burst out loudly, throwing her hands up in the air so dramatically that Heejin jumped in her place. "Funny how you can't even remember your own age -- which is a simple two digit number -- but you can remember Vivi-unnie's precisely."

Heejin watched the dynamic between the two with growing fondness in her chest, smiling absent-mindedly at the way Haseul's face just continued to grow redder by the second until it reached the very tips of her ears.

"Well -- funny how you practically idolize Vivi but you can't even remember her age." Haseul shot back, not completely losing her cool.

For a second, Yeojin looked stumped for a response, but she managed to quickly bounce back. "I did that on purpose, dumbass! I knew it would catch you off-guard!"

"What did you just call me?" Haseul raised her voice, beginning to move over to where Yeojin sat on the couch. Despite her air of confidence and relentless teasing, the younger girl immediately cowered away when she saw her older sister approaching her. "Do you want your Switch to be taken away from you again?"

"What, like you did the other night just because Hyunjin-unnie didn't give me her leftovers?" Yeojin stuck her tongue out mockingly, pulling an ugly face at her.

"It was because you were acting rude to a guest and you know it." Trying to grab the smaller girl by the back of her neck, Haseul scrunched her face up from the strain. Yeojin had strategically scrunched up her entire body so that it would be harder for the other girl to get a grip on her to use to her advantage, but it didn't stop Haseul from trying her hardest either way.

Heejin watched them with a warm heart, thinking wishfully to how wonderful it would have been to grow up with a sibling to bear the weight of the world with. She had had to grow up alone under her parents' careful, strategic watch with a million expectations and hopes placed upon the weight of her shoulders, and she had had to carry them alone through all the years. Briefly, when she was younger and more innocent, she had wondered what it would have been like if she had had an older sibling that would look after her and teach her how to not disappoint her parents so much, but the idea was quickly wiped from her mind when her father had turned down the mere idea of having another child when she was just six-years-old.

The two sisters continued to bicker loudly, Heejin just watching comfortably from a respectable distance away, until it registered to her what Yeojin had said.

"-well that's because Vivi-unnie actually looks cool when she drives! Not like you -- you look like a turtle 'cause you can't see the road properly-"

"Let's see who will be taking you places when Vivi is too busy to be your designated driver-"

Any traces of a smile had been completely wiped from Heejin's face as she tried interrupting the two loud girls. "Wait a minute, what did you say earlier?"

"Definitely not you, you turtle-neck-looking-"

"Don't you finish that sentence."

"Haseul-ssi." Heejin said more firmly, taking a step towards them so she could actually be heard. It seemed that after a while, Haseul looked up from where she had Yeojin in a headlock to actually regard what was being said to her (though her short hair managed to stick up in various directions to mimic a lion's mane). "Didn't you say that Hyunjin was with you the night that the woman died?"

For a few, tense seconds, Haseul just stared back into her desperate eyes with blank, thoughtless ones. Yeojin had even gone limp in her hold when she had mentioned the woman's death, which was more than what Heejin was expecting from her startlingly hyper-active personality. Heejin's heart was pounding away in her chest, finally having found a viable lead to go off of to prove Hyunjin's innocence.

"I didn't say that, but yeah... she was at my house that night." Haseul said, her eyes glazing over as she began to go off deep in thought.

Great, that will get her thinking. Heejin could see the wheels turning in her head, and a giddiness began to grow inside of her at the thought of finally being able to convince at least one person in the household that Hyunjin wasn't a horrible monster like they thought she was. Now that she actually considered that possibility, she wondered how they hadn't thought of it before, but she was in no place to judge since she hadn't really come up with the idea until now.

"Doesn't that mean that she couldn't have killed her anyway?" Heejin pushed further, excitement beginning to fill her veins. "Aren't you literally her alibi?"

Haseul's jaw went slack, realization beginning to dawn on her.

In her arms, Yeojin began to thrash and struggle wildly, using her hands to push her older sister's body away from her. "I've had enough! I don't wanna smell you, you stink!" 

Immediately, Haseul let her go, but when Yeojin was about to exaggeratedly take in a big breath of relief she grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a weighty look. "Yeojin-ah, I'm serious now. Look at Unnie -- look at her face, right now-" She forcefully cradled the smaller girl's face in her hands and made her look her in the eye, even when she was reluctant to do so. "-Unnie is being serious right now, so she's gonna need you to be quiet for a second, okay?" When she didn't receive a response and instead got a childish pout, Haseul gently shook her sister's head. "Can you do that for me?"

Yeojin yanked her face out of her hands, glowering darkly at her and shuffling back onto the couch so she lay there comfortably. "I'm not a dog, I heard you the first time."

Haseul looked like she wanted to shoot back a comment and put her in her place, but Heejin saw that at the last second she held her breath and instead sighed heavily before turning to face her. The expression of impassiveness and professionalism was back on her face, and Heejin almost thought she was looking at another person completely with the drastic one-eighty that she had displayed in a matter of seconds. (Even though Haseul was human, she could understand why she was still regarded with some respect, and couldn't deny the fact that she was impressive in as many ways as any of the other women who had retreated downstairs were.)

"Hyunjin was with me when Jinsoul showed up at our house saying that there was an attack in Hyunjin's apartment." Haseul recounted, now beginning to pace back to the kitchen counter where her tablet lay. She picked it up as if it were an object that she needed to have in her hands to prevent any form of anxiety, and Heejin couldn't help but soften at the thought that maybe Haseul was even more anxious than she was. "It would make sense if it were Hyunjin who attacked the woman, seeing as the body was found directly in the apartment, but it also wouldn't make sense when she was there the whole time."

Eager to delve deeper into the theories, Heejin followed after Haseul. "Yeah, and she couldn't even have created those wounds on her own."

Pensively, Haseul scrolled through data that was meaningless to Heejin, the white and blue light reflecting off of the lenses of her round glasses. "That would make sense, but her DNA was all over the bite wound. And Jinsoul and Vivi said so themselves that they've seen a sanguisuge create those exact wounds in the past. I guess Hyunjin could have very easily gone to her apartment during school time and then returned for Vivi to pick her up, because the times of death would match up then."

She wasn't wrong there. Crap.

Maybe she was right. Maybe Hyunjin had just made some stupid mistake and had unknowingly lost control. Maybe she had painted that nightmare scene that haunted Heejin's dreams and prevented her from sleeping-

No. She had to have faith in Hyunjin.

Before more doubts could plague her mind, she managed to find another flaw in their theory. "You keep saying it's the bite wound," she leaned on the kitchen island in her zealous attempt to get her point across, "but maybe it's just the bite wound. What about the other wounds on the body? Do those have Hyunjin's DNA too?"

Haseul had another moment of realization, though this time she let her hands run down her face so hard that her glasses were almost knocked off from their place. "Fuck. You're right." She leant her elbows against the dark marble while holding her head in her hands, as if it were too heavy to carry on her shoulders. "I didn't even think of that because I checked the neck wound first -- and I found Hyunjin's DNA first. By then, Hyunjin was already back and covered in blood."

Hearing that Hyunjin had actually returned to them, bloodied and in desperate need of help, only to have them turn against her in her darkest hour made her heart ache in her chest. Her jaw clenched and unclenched, trying to calm herself down and picture herself in Haseul's place. What would she have done if she'd had concrete evidence that someone had committed a murder? Not believe it? Heejin wasn't that in over her head to actually think that she wouldn't immediately cast her judgment.

"Okay." Heejin swallowed thickly, taking in a deep breath to calm herself down. Wasn't the older girl supposed to be the smart one here? "Can't you run tests on the other wounds to see if Hyunjin's innocent or not?"

At the sound of the idea, Haseul visibly brightened, pushing herself up from the island with a new-found hope on her face. It made excitement rush through Heejin, finally thinking that she had cracked the code, but it was easily crushed when the look completely dissipated from Haseul's face and was instead replaced with a pale sense of dread that made Heejin's heart stop momentarily in her chest. Heejin could associate it to complete and utter regret, and perhaps a little bit of self-remorse as Haseul let herself slump across the surface of the kitchen island.

"What? What's wrong?" Heejin leaned closer to Haseul, reflexively putting a hand on her shoulder. Her first instinct when she saw someone who was in pain was to comfort them, so she wasn't too sure if she had over-stepped her boundaries by touching her without her consent.

Haseul didn't seem to mind, though she also didn't lift her head from where it lay on the spotlessly clean marble surface. "A sanguisuge from the syndicate took the body last night. We can't run any more tests because we don't have the body."

This conversation reminded Heejin of that one rollercoaster at the amusement park she and her friends liked to visit. The slow, creeping climb up the dismaying tracks with the frightening height staring up at her from below produced the same rush of adrenaline and excitement she got when she got her hopes up. The creaking and groaning of the cart as it grounded to a stop before the drop was when Haseul would present her with that regretful expression and the words that she knew she would hate on the tip of her tongue. And then the drop, where her heart leapt up in her chest as if it were trying to claw to the top of the rollercoaster, leaving her body and soul completely.

Except this was no normal rollercoaster, because apparently there was a double-drop that Heejin hadn't been warned about because Haseul's eyes were widening all of a sudden, and a thin glistening line of moisture began to coat them.

"The syndicate think that Hyunjin killed the woman." Well... "They think that she broke the law."

Wordlessly, Heejin let herself take a step away from the counter. She didn't know what it meant when a vampire broke the law, but judging by shattered tone of voice that Haseul was sporting it most likely meant nothing good. And she really didn't know how to feel about that.

"Okay, but-" Heejin tried her best to remain positive, holding back the tears that were begging to be let out. It no longer felt like she was inside her own body, instead her brain flying on auto-pilot as she watched in third-person. She was sure that if she let herself feel the mildest hint of emotion, it would send her brain into overdrive and she'd be breaking down uselessly on the kitchen island. And she didn't need to be wasting her time and effort on that. She needed to prove that Hyunjin was innocent, because that's what Hyunjin would do if she were ever in a situation like this one. "-I know what killed the woman."

Haseul slowly lifted her head up from her place on the table, her eyes already red and wet with shimmering tears. "What?"

Taking a deep breath, Heejin managed to compose herself by clenching and unclenching her jaw. Yerim had told her to trust her, but she didn't see what good it would do if she kept the information from the night prior to that when it could literally get Hyunjin out of the situation.

"What?"

From the stairs, a familiar head of blonde appeared. Marred with bruises and fading cuts, Jinsoul's face looked more debilitated than anything Heejin had ever seen before, shadows so dark under her eyes that Heejin almost thought that it had been stained mascara. Despite their little run in the other day, and the obvious tension that they had with one another, Heejin could tell that Jinsoul cared deeply for Hyunjin (for whatever reason, she wasn't too sure, but at this moment it didn't really matter) and didn't want anything bad happening to her. Hence why she had basically threatened her for just being too suspicious around Hyunjin.

Heejin was surprised that Jinsoul had: one, actually directly addressed her in a room with other people, and two, appeared at such an opportune moment. It was as if the breath had been stolen right from her lungs, and whatever thief had decided to loot from her wasn't going to come back any time soon. So all she could do was gape like a fish out of the water.

"You know who killed the woman." Jinsoul deadpanned as if she didn't believe her, absently rolling the sleeves of a thick, black leather jacket she had slipped over her faintly muscular frame. The intimidation in her neon blue eyes currently carving out the question into Heejin's soul rendered her even more speechless. (So far, she hadn't seen Jinsoul switch back to the human color.)

When the blonde finally stopped several feet in front of her (pink lips slightly parted as if she were struggling to breathe and eyelids dropping into a suspicious squint) she stopped playing with the sleeves of her leather jacket.

Heejin nodded firmly, pursing her parched lips. "It wasn't Hyunjin. I don't even think it was a sang- a vampire -- it didn't even look human, actually."

Both Jinsoul and Haseul frowned deeply the more they listened to her words, though due to the entrance of the 'three-hundred-year-old' specie, Haseul decided not to input her opinion on the matter. Instead, it was up to Jinsoul to decide whether she would listen to her explanation of what had been happening or if she would completely disregard her as a stupid human teenage girl who was just lovesick and wanted to get her lover out of the situation.

When Jinsoul hesitantly nodded for her to continue, complete and utter relief washed over Heejin.

"It's this weird monster that walks on four legs -- kind of like a dog, except I don't think it had a tail, and it definitely didn't have much hair on it. When it opened its jaws, it kind of had several rows of tiny teeth -- like a shark, maybe -- but it's main teeth were two long fangs, so it could easily replicate the mark of a vampire's if it were to bite cleanly."

Behind Jinsoul, Yerim quietly approached the group with a solemn expression on her face. Her eyes wavered uncertainly towards Heejin, who held hope for the idea that Jinsoul would spare her some mercy and believe her for once. The anxiety was visible in the way her brows furrowed into a taught facial expression, painting her uncomfortableness visibly on her face for anyone to see. Heejin could tell that she wasn't particularly pleased with the topic at hand, nut she couldn't find it in herself to care at that precise moment.

"I've never heard of those." Jinsoul said plainly.

At least she didn't think I was lying, Heejin thought to herself. Having Jinsoul's chilling blue eyes on her was almost like having a physical weight pressing on her skin, and she was almost sure that she hadn't felt anything more uncomfortable than that.

"And you saw it attacking the woman?" Jinsoul asked, eyes glinting with suspicion.

"No." When Jinsoul's expression hardened once more, panic began to fill Heejin from the top once more. "But- it did try to attack me and Hyunjin just yesterday. We were on our way back to my place and it came out of no where-" The blonde continued to look at her with doubt and disbelief, which Heejin couldn't really blame her for because she probably sounded like a complete dumbass in those moments. "-that's why Hyunjin's so injured -- why Yerim is so injured too. She was there with us."

At the mention of her name, Yerim jumped and backed away a little. Jinsoul spun around to look at her with a particular softness that she had never seen her wear, and she thought that perhaps the blonde did care about people other than Hyunjin.

"Is she telling the truth?" Jinsoul asked quietly. There was the slightest shake to her voice, as if she couldn't really believe it that something like that had actually happened (Heejin still hadn't really processed it herself, so she could understand why the blonde found it so hard to believe).

Yerim glanced into Heejin's eyes, which were boring into hers with a powerful intensity that clearly represented just how desperate she was to get to Hyunjin and try to help her. Slowly, as if reluctant to do so, Yerim began to nod her head subtly. "Yes." Her voice was tinged with guilt, like she knew of the consequences of not speaking up about what happened would have led to everyone not trusting a word that Hyunjin said. "It attacked them late at night, but me and Hyunjin managed to kill it and dispose of the body before we came here."

Heejin almost jumped five feet into the air when Jinsoul suddenly slammed her fist against the nearest object, which just so happened to be the leather couch where Yeojin had been slumped against. (The small girl flinched away from the strike immediately, and Haseul threateningly marched towards where her baby sister was sitting so she could protect her.)

Tenuously, Jinsoul's slumped shoulders rose up before falling back down in time with the deep breath she took. "Why didn't you say something before?" The usually silvery voice was tight, laced intricately with layers of emotions.

Like a reprimanded child, Yerim lowered her gaze down to the clean, wooden floorboards. The slightest hint of regret coursed through Heejin's mind when she saw the hurt conveyed by the pursing of the lips and the clasping of her fists, showing just how much Yerim was affected by the indirect scolding.

Jinsoul spun around to face Haseul, who had been watching her with vigilant eyes in case she lost her temper again and put Yeojin in harms way. "I want Hyunjin to be released." She spoke resolutely -- commanding to show that there would be no argument against her statement. With a formidable spark of bright blue from her cobalt glare, Jinsoul moved towards the circle that encased Hyunjin's unconscious body the whole time.

Wordlessly, Haseul followed after her and didn't hesitate to crush the sandy-substance with the sole of her leather boot, brushing it away easier than Heejin would have expected.

She hadn't known what to expect when 'the spell would be broken' -- perhaps not a beaming burst of light to signify that something had been broken -- but it certainly had been a little more than no reaction happening at all. Hyunjin's body didn't even react to the change, and Heejin's heart sunk inside of her when she continued to remain immobile just as she had been this whole time. (For some reason, worries about whether Hyunjin's neck would hurt from having her head limp against her chest for so long flooded her mind before anything else. She shook them out quickly before she could go off into a spiral of doubt and worry about every single one of Hyunjin's injuries.)

When the circle was broken, Jinsoul rushed towards Hyunjin and lifted her head from where it was tipped down, seeming to have the same idea as Heejin. Haseul cautiously fixated on removing the thick black ties binding her wrists together behind her back, while Heejin firmly crouched beside Hyunjin's body to undo the ties on her ankles. The three of them worked together in complete silence, though they mutually shared one goal.

Hyunjin's entire body slumped forward once the ties incarcerating her to the back of the chair were released, and despite not having the super-speed that Jinsoul was graced with, Heejin reflexively caught the girl's dead weight in her arms.

Being able to finally physically touch Hyunjin after spending all day consciously craving her presence was the most relieving thing in the world. Heejin felt like a drug addict finally taking a hit after a torturous withdrawal, the incessant storming within her weakening ribcage finally soothing into a calm trot and the tight grip around her lungs letting go to allow her to breathe easier. The familiar warmth seeping through Hyunjin's thin white button-up shirt and pressing into her body was like her life source in those seconds where she just held her against her body, eyes closed to hold back any tears.

"Let's move her." Haseul said, though she spoke in a reserved manner.

It was almost like physically trying to rip herself away from Hyunjin, but Heejin managed to gather enough strength to hold her back by the shoulders so that Jinsoul could get a better hold on her body.

Heejin had only watched a few eye-color transformations (one of them being Chaewon's alarming conversion), though she didn't think she'd ever seen one as emotional as this one: Jinsoul's previously persistently cobalt glare slowly melted and warmed back into the humane brown eyes as she cradled Hyunjin's body against her. Simultaneously, the deep-seated frown tugging her eyebrows together alleviated to a soft arc, as if the relief of having the younger girl back in her presence was having an affect on her. The manner in which Jinsoul's newly brown eyes skirted around Hyunjin's features with delicacy and care was enough to show to anyone within a mile-radius just how much she loved her.

Automatically, Yeojin stood from her place on the couch to make room for Hyunjin to lie down. The couch was long enough for Hyunjin to be comfortable, though that didn't stop Haseul from putting one of the expensive pillows beneath her head to support her neck.

Heejin followed after Hyunjin like a moth drawn to a flame, crouching carefully beside her. Now that she had a closer look, she could see that her face was stained with muck from the streets and dried blood from the injuries that were still healing from the previous night's fight. Tenderly, she traced her brow with the tips of her fingers to swipe away any loose strands of hair.

Beside her, Jinsoul gripped at Hyunjin's hand so tightly that Heejin was almost afraid that she would cut off her circulation. Her eyes were closed, resembling how one would look if they were praying, with her lips thinly pressed to the back of Hyunjin's limp and bloodied hand.

"Why was my spell broken?" Hyejoo's voice agitatedly cut through the silence, the sound of her loud footsteps clanking against the wooden floorboards resonating through the room. "Didn't I tell you not to touch it?"

"It wasn't needed anymore." Jinsoul spoke, her eyes still closed as Hyejoo came to a stop behind the couch. For the first time since Heejin had seen her that day, there was an expression of complete serenity dictating all of her features.

When the footsteps of Vivi and Kim Lip followed after her, Haseul quickly moved towards them to explain what was happening -- and likely stopping them from thinking that something was wrong.

"Uh, is it the best idea to set something as powerful as her free?" Hyejoo asked, a judgemental curve to her eyebrow. It wasn't anything that originated from fear -- rather it seemed as if she were deprecating their choices because she didn't really agree with them. Heejin could tell from the way that she irksomely glanced between the broken circle and Hyunjin's unconscious body as if it were a nuisance.

Jinsoul snapped her eyes towards her warningly, the air around her becoming stifling. "It's not your place to decide whether my idea is good or not." Heejin subconsciously moved closer to Hyunjin's body, automatically seeking for the feeling of protection and comfort from her even if she remained unconscious. However, Hyejoo tilted her chin up, completely unaffected by the harsh tone of voice and the exuding aura that Jinsoul was giving off, instead appearing more offended than anything else. "Besides, I would think that our efforts are better fixated on the bigger problem at hand."

The two stared each other off, their gazes completely unwavering. Unexpectedly (or not, Heejin didn't know what to expect from these two personalities), Hyejoo averted her eyes first by instead rolling them in another direction. "You're right." She smirked, the corner of her plump lip tugging up to reveal a perfect set of white teeth.

"Now, I think we've stalled long enough." Jinsoul said.

The blonde pushed herself up from where she had been crouching beside Hyunjin's body and looked towards Vivi, who was being calmed down with a considerate hand against her chest courtesy of Haseul. All of the women looked prepared with thick jackets, the material being either leather or layers of fabric on top of one another.

"I think it's best we take my car -- it has the biggest trunk." Jinsoul said, gesturing towards the stairs with a flick of the hand.

Reluctantly, Kim Lip glanced between Yerim (who had been quietly observing everything) and Jinsoul, silently moving towards the stairs once more. Vivi was more grudging to do so as she harshly shared several words with Haseul under her breath, looking as if she were ranting about something or other. It was only when Haseul seized her by the lapels of her long jacket and shook her that she halted her sentence. Some words were exchanged between the two that encouraged the vampire to give in, parting with her human counterpart with a little kiss to the cheek and a dubious squint to the eyes at Jinsoul.

Yeojin, having seen the public display of affection from Vivi towards her sister, began to turn to Hyejoo, who was still standing there with her weight resting on one leg. When the taller girl slowly met her mischievous eyes, they began to widen in a gradual yet comical manner. Despite all the repeated girlish yelps of 'no no no, don't touch me you little gremlin', Yeojin persistently chased after Hyejoo until she managed to land her lips on a surface of the girl's body. (It being her forearm, which she had forcibly held on to.) That was more than enough to scare Hyejoo back towards the stairs, not looking back once to respond to Yeojin's loud cry of, 'good luck!'

Once Hyejoo had disappeared down the stairs, Heejin felt Jinsoul turn towards her. Her hand resting protectively on Hyunjin's arm, Heejin angled her head so she could see Jinsoul's stoic face.

"If something happens to her while I'm gone," Jinsoul began lowly, eyes becoming ablaze with the neon blue glare, "I will rip you limb from limb and make you watch. Understand?"

A shiver scrambled down her spine at the grotesque ultimatum.

It offended her a little that Jinsoul felt like she had to threaten her to get her to take care of Hyunjin, because she was obviously completely and utterly dedicated to Hyunjin and would do anything for her. She didn't need a threat to motivate her.

Heejin stared directly into the bottomless pits of gleaming blue, a determination wrapping around her entire being. She felt herself be overcome with pride and dignity at being handed the task of caring for Hyunjin when the blonde was so protective over her, and she wasn't going to let that be taken away from her by a simple supernatural glare.

"I understand."

-

Absently, Heejin continued to brush the strands of hair on Hyunjin's hairline.

With time and care, Hyunjin's wounds were tended to by the expertise of Haseul, and the filth staining her pale skin were cleaned and wiped away by Heejin's mindful hands. Despite the light blush that had graced her cheeks, Heejin remained focussed on the task of changing Hyunjin into a clean shirt that wasn't torn up or covered in her own blood. She recognised it from when she had stayed over at her house one time to 'do her homework', back when the biggest worry on her mind was whether Hyunjin would judge her for scooting closer on her bed or not.

The ache in her back was easy to ignore when she was sat right beside Hyunjin, though she had to admit to herself that it was painful every time she shifted in place to stretch the muscles.

"You should rest, you've been sitting there for almost an hour and a half." Haseul, Heejin had learnt over the small amount of time they spent together, had a natural tendency to care for others. It was evident when she held Hyunjin's head as if it were a precious gem when they were changing her shirt, and it was evident when she wrapped Yeojin in her arms after they were done tending to Hyunjin. (Even though the younger girl had pretended to be disgusted by the affection, she had fallen asleep in her older sister's arms and allowed herself to be carried into another room.)

Weakly, but present either way, Heejin smiled up at the older girl and gently shook her head. "It's okay. It's not like I could with Hyunjin in a state like this, anyway."

Haseul quietly took a seat beside her on the couch footstool that they had moved over from Jinsoul's study. Her presence was undeniably calming and warm -- a generally pleasant atmosphere that Heejin couldn't help but gravitate towards in times like these. "You know, I met Hyunjin only a month ago when she was in her death bed."

The statement was abrupt, almost as if it cheekily slipped out of Haseul's mouth to punch her in the face. Heejin had to double-check the expression on the girl's face to see whether she was being serious or not, because the mere idea that Hyunjin had almost died more than once (including the recent scare) was almost too painful to think about. But there was no mirth in the crinkles at the corners of her eyes nor a joking tug to her set lips.

"I knew nothing about her, but I knew that whatever had happened to her wasn't her fault." Heejin liked the way that Haseul's spoke, finding herself becoming lost in the smooth sound. "Actually, now that I think about it, you could say that it was my fault. I was the one that had given her an untested blood bag that someone had been willing to donate, and it clearly didn't sit well in her body, which was what landed her in her bed for several days straight." Regret surfaced in her voice the more she spoke. "I feel horrible for being the cause of that... Jinsoul wasn't too happy with me afterwards. Though she's never really been very open to the idea of having human sticking around."

Not knowing what to say to respond to that, Heejin hummed and let her head nod.

"Anyway," she shook her head as if to rid herself of those thoughts, "what I'm trying to say is -- and I know that Hyunjin won't appreciate me exposing her like this -- is that even in the brink of death while being unconscious, she would repeatedly say, 'Heejin, Heejin'."

Inside said girl's chest, her heart doubled in size. A warm feeling spread like wildfire within her cold, fatigued body and rekindled any form of past liveliness that had left her. She couldn't stop and didn't want to stop herself when she reached out to hold onto Hyunjin's limp hand, slipping her fingers onto the plane of her palm. Any form of closeness would hopefully soothe the instantaneous need to hear Hyunjin's familiar voice formulating the syllables of her name -- or to just simply hear her breathe out one of her infuriatingly sarcastic comments.

"I don't know you very well, Heejin," Haseul said, "but I can tell how much she loves you."

She knew that Haseul's intentions were not to make her cry, but she seemed to be doing a terribly good job of making her do just that.

Although a bit hesitant, Haseul rested a hand on her back to rub in lulling circles. "I don't know what you guys' relationship is with each other, but I know that you care about her too." Heejin pitifully dragged a long, shaky breath, biting down on her trembling lip to stop the incessantly irritating tears harbored in her eyes. "I just want to say 'thank you' for accepting her for the person that she is, and for not hating her for the vampire that she also is. I know first hand how hard it is to accept that."

Miraculously, Heejin effectively blinked away the moisture and give a grateful smile to Haseul. "Thank you for telling me this." Both of them ignored just how hard her voice cracked, though it didn't stop them from smiling knowingly to each other. "I think- I think you telling me this... you saying this helped me make a choice that I was struggling with." There was a gravity to those words that Haseul would possibly never understand -- that managed to take even her by surprise as she said them. But she found that that gravity helpfully guided her feet back down to earth and helped her mind have a moment of absolute clarity that she had been looking for all this time. "I know what to do now."

Haseul gave a gentle smile despite her confusion. "I'm glad I could help."

-

The sun was beginning to sink into the horizon when Heejin's phone buzzed in her pocket.

The beautiful large wall windows allowed the burning rays of sunlight to seep into the room and cast a mellow orange color that contrasted nicely with the neon blue lights of the aquarium that Jinsoul had near the stairs. She was moderately jealous of the way that it looked, reminding her of an industrial studio from a real estate magazine that her and Hyunjin had fantasized about living in sometime in the past. If she closed her eyes, she could almost picture her and Hyunjin living in a place like this -- waking up to the bright, dazzling natural light and life in the trees from the world outside, only to sink back into each other's arms with a comfortable familiarity in both their movements.

Heejin sighed. She had been dreading her parents' response for the past hour or so after sending that risky text message saying that she wanted nothing to do with what they were planning. It had made her want to throw up from the amount of anxiety that was festering inside of her (she even considered deleting the text message before they saw it) but holding Hyunjin's hand in hers had calmed whatever urge had been there before.

With quaking fingers, she briefly touched the 'on' button.

There was a part of her deep inside that told her not to look at the screen. That whatever she would find there would probably be horrible. Maybe if she ignored it long enough, the problem would go away by itself and her parents wouldn't be that mad at her when she went back home.

Heejin was tired of being a coward.

When her phone screen lit up, the first thing that she saw was her usual background. (A doodle that she had made in class of a bunny with glasses on and a cute cat draped over it as it slept away. It made her smile a little.)

Then, her mother's message.

'Stop joking around. Your deadline has been moved to tonight. We expect results.'

She didn't know what to make of it.

Was she supposed to be angry?

Maybe relieved that she hadn't said something much, much worse?

The words glared up at her from the screen under the contact name she had given her: a simple 'Mother' because she hadn't been allowed to refer to her as anything but that in her life. They mocked her and belittled her worth and called her stupid for even thinking that she would actually be able to make her own, independent decision for once in her life. Even as they allowed themselves to be swallowed by the darkening of her screen, Heejin continued to stare at them.

Her fingers trembled under the abrupt weight of the metal block in her hand, but she clenched them tightly around the device before discarding it on the coffee table like the worthless thing that it was.

All of her life, she had strived to take one small step into her parents' spotlight -- to at least be the center of attention for once in their life. She had been obedient when her mother had shoved her in elegant, uncomfortable, awkward dresses and introduced her to the immature sons of corrupt politicians. She had listened when she was told that she was beautiful, but that was all that she would ever be (despite having her own dreams and aspirations for life). Like a martyr, she took any criticism her mother threw at her and believed every word that came out of that venomous mouth until it became ingrained in her head and she was the one criticizing herself.

She was tired.

Heejin was so tired of trying to please people that would never be pleased with anything that she did, and even though it took her this long to realize it, she was glad that she did at all.

Every breath that she inhaled was bitter in the back of her throat, but the dizziness in her brain was telling her that she needed more oxygen in her system or she would pass out. So without any thought in her mind, she began to gasp at the air. Her chest heaved up and down at her efforts, but rather than helping it seemed to be making it worse. The corners of her vision began to dim into a terrifying black, the imminent sensation of it closing in slowly but presently making the anxiety seizing her heart tighten its grip. A stale smell wafted into her nose, so pungent that it acted like a physical block barricading any more air from going through her nostrils. Her tongue felt like a swollen sponge in her mouth as it began to soak up the faint tang of bile crawling up her throat and burning her insides. Even her jaw was numb, slacking to force her mouth open as she audibly panted for air.

Something squeezed her right hand.

Through her dim vision dotted with white spots, she glanced at the hand that had been squeezed and saw that it was still holding Hyunjin's.

When her breath caught in her throat and forced her to let out a strangled groan, her hand was squeezed once more. This time, however, she managed to see the way Hyunjin's previously limp fingers strengthened around her hand and relax once more.

It took her a moment to process what was happening, but once her mind finally caught up to speed she immediately straightened in her place and scooted closer to the edge of her seat so she could reach for Hyunjin's face better. With her free hand, she shakily cupped the side of her face. (To stabilize herself or Hyunjin, she didn't know, but it managed to clear her airway better.)

Hyunjin's eyelids fluttered, followed by her entire head twitching.

"H-Ha-" Heejin scrunched her face up in frustration when her voice squeaked. "Haseul! Haseul!"

Not even five seconds later, Haseul rushed into the room with her professional expression on her face. She ran to where Heejin was sitting and gently but forcibly removed her hand from Hyunjin's face.

Hyunjin's head was turning from one side to the other, almost as if she were shaking her head but in a more synthetic manner. Her dry, split lips were parted slightly, but they also seemed to be trembling in a way that was horrifyingly unnatural.

"Sh-she squeezed my hand." Heejin tried to be helpful to the preoccupied girl. "Is she okay? Does that mean that she's waking up?"

Haseul didn't reply. Instead, she halted her movements for a second and simply stared at Hyunjin's shaking body. Her analytical eyes ran up and down the length of Hyunjin's body behind the glinting lenses of her glasses, reminding Heejin of the doctors from the dramas that always looked so cool to her back then. But now, she didn't need Haseul to look cool -- she needed her to tell her what was wrong with Hyunjin and why she looked like she was having a seizure.

"Move, she's having a seizure." Haseul ordered with a firm voice, pushing her away with her entire body.

Horror-stricken, Heejin remained immobile as she watched Haseul rapidly moving to stand up from the footstool. It was that feeling of being in third-person, feeling like her soul had evacuated her body and was observing the situation from afar. With a little less care than she had carried before, Haseul grabbed Hyunjin's shoulder and tugged it so it forced the rest of her body to be lying side-ways on the couch.

"Heejin, start counting." Haseul said while placing two of her fingers to the column of Hyunjin's neck. When Heejin didn't reply, she snapped her head around to look at her. "Heejin. Please can you start counting?"

A little fazed, Heejin nodded before beginning to mumble out the numbers.

Hyunjin continued to convulse on the surface of the couch, her legs occasionally kicking backwards and forwards. The hand which had been in Heejin's hand had fallen completely and was instead lying face down on the leather, the fingers twitching disorderly as if trying to reach for something that was too far away.

"...fifteen... sixteen... seventeen..."

Haseul continued to remain still with a calm look on her face, fingers likely pressed up against Hyunjin's pulse point in her neck. Heejin almost wanted to stop and interrupt her own counting to yell at the girl to do something to help Hyunjin -- to help end her suffering -- but she had a feeling that the girl knew what she was doing with the way that she rationally kept scanning Hyunjin's face.

"...thirty-five... thirty... thirty-seven..."

When a clear line of drool began to slide out of the corner of Hyunjin's relaxed mouth, Heejin stuttered on her number. She had never seen Hyunjin look so helpless or out of control -- much less in a situation which could be lethal. It was almost impossible to keep speaking when all that Heejin wanted to do was try to tell her that it would be okay. That Haseul would do something to help her and that she would be able to rest comfortably for once.

"...one-hundred and five... one-hundred and six... one-hundred and seven..."

A frown had begun to form on Haseul's face, and the worry beginning to crease a line between her two brows made Heejin's heart drop. Haseul was the one who knew what was going on here. If she was frowning, then that wasn't a good sign, which most likely meant that Hyunjin was in trouble.

"...one-hundred and fifteen... one-hundred and sixteen... one-hundred and seventeen..."

Relief flooded her when Hyunjin gradually stopped moving. Only several spasm trembling through her limbs were left behind as evidence of the seizure, and Heejin was grateful that at least she was still moving. A loud, heavy sigh left Haseul's mouth, but she still crouched beside Hyunjin's face to put her ear near her mouth.

"She's okay." Haseul said, moving back to sit onto the footstool once more.

Both of them watched as Hyunjin's now immobile body relaxed onto the couch once more. Even more relief flooded her when Hyunjin's eyelids lifted, although they struggled to do so as if held back by a heavy weight compelling her to keep her eyes shut. She didn't think that the day would ever come where Heejin would be relieved to see the familiar, yet chilling brightness in Hyunjin's yellow vampire eyes, but here she was trying to drink in every little detail of the other girl's opened eyes.

Haseul turned to her in the meanwhile, her eyes painted with the deep colors of worry and warmth. "Are you okay?" She asked, once more reverting back to her gentle personality that exuded a more maternal sensation that her biological mother had ever given to her. As she reached out to touch her face, Heejin couldn't help but find herself eagerly awaiting the contact.

She hadn't really noticed, but her cheeks were wet with tears. Perhaps they had slipped out while she was struggling to breathe, or maybe it was when she had to torture herself with watching Hyunjin suffering in front of her while she did nothing but count some numbers, but it didn't really matter because they had fallen. And Haseul, despite having only met properly that day a few hours prior to those events, kind-heartedly brushed them away with the back of her knuckles as if they had known each other for years. Heejin let her, but she couldn't help feeling like a failure because she had promised herself she'd be strong.

"Hmmm...ah." Hyunjin's lips were moving, and she looked like she was doing her best to speak.

Heejin sniffled before pulling away from Haseul's hand. "I'm fine." She gave her a small, but grateful smile. Shuffling closer to the edge of her seat, she outstretched her hand to wipe away the streaks of sweat that had formed on Hyunjin's hairline. "Hey Hyun," she cooed softly, trying not to be too loud in case she caused a headache, "you're okay. You're okay, baby, it's over now..."

At the sound of her voice, Hyunjin's yellow eyes darted to her face. It took all it had in Heejin to not halt the movement of her hand from the single stare, but she still stared back into her eyes just as fondly as she would have done if her eyes were brown. Hyunjin's eyelids relaxed once more and drooped over them, her lips moving as she mumbled, "Hee-ah" over and over.

Lips quivering, Heejin rapidly looked away from Hyunjin's face. She knew that if she continued to look at her in this state, she would just start crying all over again, and that wasn't what Hyunjin needed at the moment. 

Trying to stifle her shaky breaths in her own shoulder, Heejin clenched her eyes shut and tried to remove the horrible images from her mind.

"Hyunjin, you're in Jinsoul's house, in her living room," Haseul was speaking in that soft voice of hers, managing to calm both Hyunjin and Heejin at once, "Heejin is here with us, and Yeojin is sleeping in the other room. You've just had a seizure, but you're okay now."

It was getting easier to breathe now. The view of the city horizon with the sun setting low in the back was extremely healing to her, and it was enough to get her back in a stable state of mind. This was something that she never wanted to experience again in her life -- receiving that message from her mother and then having to deal with her lover looking like she was about to die right in front of her took the life out of her. But she was just grateful to whatever higher force up there that they had allowed Hyunjin to get out of that safely.

Feeling familiar, long slender fingers touching the back of her hand and carefully guiding it away from the side of Hyunjin's head, Heejin hesitantly turned her head back to face her again.

Hyunjin, with a slow, weak hand and an intense gaze fixated on her profile, guided her hand so it was positioned in front of her parted mouth. Carefully, as if trying not to scare her away with movements too hasty, she made contact with her still dry lips to the smooth surface of her skin. The warmth from her lips seeping into her hand made Heejin's heart both swoon and smoothen at the same time, and she found herself falling more deeply for the girl in front of her.

"You're a dumbass." Heejin murmured. It was hard to part her lips when all they wanted to do was stick together from the lack of moisture in her mouth, but her words were still perceptible enough for both Hyunjin and Haseul to understand her. She hadn't known how to react now that Hyunjin was alive, having a million words already prepared in her mind but none of them willingly showing up in the fore-front of it. Instead, she turned to their simpler version of communication: small, meaningless, teasing insults that would usually start petty arguments.

The expression on Hyunjin's face attentively molded itself into a soft, affectionate smile that made the butterflies in Heejin's stomach burst into life and fly around chaotically. Methodically, Hyunjin slipped her fingers through the gaps in Heejin's hand and interlaced their hands, pressing another soft kiss to the back of her palm but this time in the form of a small smile. "'M your dummass."

A soft laugh pushed from the pit of Heejin's stomach. She understood perfectly what Hyunjin had meant with those words, and they had elevated her back off the ground with how happy they made her. Haseul watched them with a fond expression on her face, the corners of her eyes crinkling in amusement as Hyunjin reached out to teasingly poke at Heejin's knee.

Faster than Heejin had been anticipating, Hyunjin's movements regained their precision and strength, being able to push herself up from the surface of the couch to lie back to rest her head there. Worriedly, she followed each motion in case something went wrong.

When Hyunjin gave a loud groan that dragged from her chest, Heejin immediately moved to sit beside her. "Ah- I'm hungry."

Haseul's eyes slightly widened at the words, a look of panic crossing her entire face as her head swiveled around the room. "I think that Vivi may have drank all the blood that I brought..." Stressed, she lifted the glasses off of her nose and rubbed at the bridge. "Uhm... do you think that you can wait forty-five minutes or so? I might need to go back and get some."

With her eyes closed, Hyunjin gave a weak nod. "Sure, take all the time that you need." Heejin instantly recognised the bite of sarcasm tinged in her voice, though she wasn't to pleased to hear it in this instance. "It's not like I can literally smell your blood from a mile away."

Rolling her eyes, Haseul pushed herself up from the footstool. "Don't be a smartass. I'm sure that Jinsoul has some blood lying around somewhere."

While Haseul paced towards the kitchen, Heejin focussed her gaze back on Hyunjin's serene expression. Her chest was visibly rising up and down in steady beats under the oversized shirt that they had helped her wear, each inhale and exhale being faintly audible from where Heejin was sat. Hair sticking to the sides of her face thanks to the thin coat of sweat that had appeared during the seizure, Hyunjin dragged her free hand down the side of her face. Nonchalantly, she let her head fall to the side to angle herself better towards the other girl, looking up at her through her fluttering eyelashes with her animalistic yellow eyes.

"I'm really hungry," Hyunjin said. Her voice shook weakly, and through her slightly parted lips sharp fangs poked through.

Heejin gulped nervously, but tightened her grip on her hand. "Don't worry -- Haseul is getting you something to eat right now." As she spoke with a fragile smile, she saw the yellow eyes wander down to her lips and remain fixated there. "Just wait a little bit." She assured, gently cupping her jaw and brushing her skin with the pad of her thumb.

Reluctantly, Hyunjin tugged her face away from Heejin's hand. "I hate animal blood."

She ignored the stinging pain that surfaced in her chest as Hyunjin pulled away from her, focussing on trying to tend to her needs instead. "But you said you're hungry," she found herself reasoning, encouraging Hyunjin to look at her again. "Haseul-unnie said that she ran out of blood, so that's the last thing that we have left."

Hyunjin groaned loudly again, this time clutching at her stomach as if she were in pain. When Heejin moved closer to help her, Hyunjin pushed her away in fright. "N-no... don't try to get close..." Another groan. "I don't think that I can drink animal blood..."

Haseul came back with a metallic canister full of what Heejin assumed to be blood. (The thought made bile rise up the back of her throat, but she decidedly ignored it in favor of making room for Haseul to sit beside Hyunjin.) "Hyunjin, you're going to have to drink this." She coaxed in a gentle tone, resembling a mother trying to encourage her five-year-old child to eat the last of their broccoli. "I know you don't like it, but it's all that we have right now. If it makes you feel better, I'll go get you some more blood after you're done."

Sluggishly, Hyunjin held the canister in between her hands, which gripped at the metallic canister hard enough to leave dents ingrained into it.

Resisting the urge to look away, Heejin watched in anticipation as Hyunjin tilted her head back and began to drink the insides. She had never seen or watched Hyunjin do anything that would confirm her identity as a vampire other than flashing her wild eyes at her and revealing her fangs. Fear was the first feeling that rose up in her body as she watched her drink the blood as if it were water, but she quickly reigned it in and controlled it before it send her running back into the city and away from this place. The second feeling was slight panic, because a trickle of crimson slipped from the corner of Hyunjin's grimacing mouth, almost as if she were refusing to swallow the contents.

"Gah-" Hyunjin tore the canister away from her mouth and held it at an arms-length as if it were poison. Heejin looked away when Hyunjin stuck her bloody tongue out in disgust, her stomach churning uncomfortably at the scene. "I-I can't drink this... it tastes like mud."

"Hyunjin, you have to drink it." Haseul urged her once more, trying to move her arm closer to her. Hyunjin ripped her arm out of her grip, scooting away from her instead. "See? I don't think you're going to last long enough for me to go home and then come home."

As if she had tasted something sour, Hyunjin scrunched her face up and leaned over. "What if- urgh-" Scrambling to place the canister down on the coffee table, Hyunjin shut her eyes tightly. "I can run. I can go get it."

Heejin could see Haseul mulling over her words, considering them carefully, before wearing a grim expression once more. "We can't risk you losing control and killing an innocent civilian on the way." Defeat began to lace her voice as she stretched her hand out to reach for the canister once more. "Trust me, Hyunjin. It's better if you drink this."

"I- I can't, Haseul." The futility in her tone made Heejin's chest ache. "It won't even go down my throat."

Losing her patience, Haseul stood up and slammed the canister down on the coffee table. "Well then what do you want me to do?" She paced back and forth in front of them, and Heejin was almost tempted to stand up and help calm her down. "There's no supply of human blood in these mountains, and it's going to take me a long time to get any up here with the traffic anyway. I'm not just going to let you lose your mind in here."

Hyunjin's jaw clenched. "There has to be another way."

Going to give an immediate retort, Haseul stopped in her tracks. Heejin watched as her mouth hung open, trying to process everything in her mind carefully. "Has Jinsoul taught you how to drink blood from living things?" She asked carefully.

Dread began to rise up inside of Heejin. She could for-see where this conversation was going, and she had a feeling that she was not going to like the results whatever crazy outcome they decided to go with. Something about having to watch Hyunjin drink the blood from a living and breathing creature didn't sit well in her chest, but she understood that this was likely something that would have to happen for Hyunjin to feel okay again. Two separate parts of her fought as the conflict inside of her mind grew the more that Hyunjin looked like she was also understanding where Haseul was going with the question.

"She- explained it to me... but I've never done it before." Hyunjin scowled after she almost hissed, looking like she was fighting her own internal battle.

Resolution settled over Haseul's face. "Do you think you can control yourself drinking my blood?"

Something twisted inside Heejin's chest as she heard the words.

Hyunjin managed to open her yellow, savage eyes to look up at Haseul who, to her credit, looked eerily calm. "I can't do that..." Despite her protest, there wasn't much conviction in her voice. "What if you get hurt? What if I lose control?"

"You won't." Haseul said.

Heejin shifted uncomfortably in her place when Haseul approached Hyunjin, sitting down beside her and tying whatever short strands of hair she could gather up into a ponytail. From where she was sitting, she could see Hyunjin's hungry expression all over her face, and even more when her eyes scanned the bare flesh on Haseul's revealed neck. It made her stomach coil uncomfortably, and a familiar bitterness make itself present in her chest just when she thought she had dispelled herself of that sick emotion.

When Hyunjin slowly approached Haseul's neck, she bared her fangs.

Just when she thought that Hyunjin was going to sink them into the other girl's neck, she halted in place and instantly scrambled backwards.

Confusion shrouded both Heejin and Haseul as they watched Hyunjin throw her arms over her face.

"What's wrong?" Haseul asked, sounding more and more frustrated by the minute.

"I can't drink from you." Hyunjin stated simply, a factual tone in her voice. When Haseul opened her mouth to protest, Hyunjin cut her off sharply. "And it's not because I don't want to -- you've already been claimed by another sanguisuge." Yellow eyes peaked from beneath her arms, looking at Haseul's abruptly rigid figure. "Jinsoul already explained that a sanguisuge can't drink from a human that has already been claimed by someone else, or it will cause conflict." Haseul remained completely still, as if in shock of the new piece of information. "And I don't think that Vivi would appreciate having to fight me."

For several quiet moments, no one reacted. The room had already lost its light with the sun having finally set, and instead the only bright source of light was the neon blue from the aquarium. It casted an almost sinister, cool atmosphere over the room that made Heejin's skin crawl uncomfortably.

Haseul spun to look at her, the look on her face slightly guilty. The dread that had already been inside of her made her heart jump in her ribcage, already anticipating the following words to leave her mouth. "Heejin. We're going to need you to step in."

Having the responsibility so abruptly placed on her shoulders made each and every thought that had been screaming and dancing in her head be immediately knocked out. Her heart rate began to pick up its pace at the idea of being used as a human blood bag, fear already plaguing the corners of her mind and cutting off her breathing effectively. This was what she had read in the books in her father's office -- vampires luring humans in and keeping them in their large mansions to drink from them whenever they were hungry.

Hyunjin shook her head in a violent manner. "No. I can't drink from Heejin."

"You're going to have to, because there is no way in hell that I am letting those fangs of yours touch an inch of Yeojin's body." Haseul snapped authoritatively, anger burning bright in her protective glare.

"I-I can wait it out." Hyunjin insisted, crawling over to the farthest end of the couch to get away from where Heejin was sitting. "I can hold it back. Please."

Haseul looked at her with an unreadable gaze. There was that protectiveness that made her square her shoulders and stare defiantly into those piercing yellow eyes as if they were a normal occurrence, and that stemmed from the love that she had for her little sister. Doubt clouded her, however, present in the way her eyebrows faintly tried to pull together in a dubious frown. Heejin found it impossible to decipher what was going on through her mind in those moments, finding her more intimidating than she would have liked.

Taking one look at Heejin's conflicted face, Haseul sighed to signal her relent. "Fine." Her face immediately hardened right after. "But you have to wait until I'm back, okay? It's nothing personal, but I'm going to take Yeojin with me. She's had a long day and needs to rest-"

Almost gratefully, Hyunjin nodded eagerly. "I get it."

Haseul turned to Heejin, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If she starts getting crazy, use the rope to tie her up, okay?"

The words made her grimace slightly. She didn't want to be the one wrapping that thick material back around Hyunjin just when she had gotten out of it. So instead of giving any sort of answer, her lips tugged up into a tight grin and she briefly touched the back of Haseul's hand in comfort. "Drive safely."

-

"Heejin." Hyunjin was trembling where she was sitting as if a sudden cold had washed over her. "Heejin."

Heejin had been standing in the kitchen area per Hyunjin's request, just losing herself in her own thoughts this whole time. There was a lot to process and make sense of, there rarely being any pause for her to take a breather and actually think about her actions and consequences. The view of the city skyline lighting up like stars in the night sky was uncannily beautiful, and it was a sight to behold. Still, the room was cloaked in darkness, only lit by the distant city lights and the neon from the bubbling aquarium, making the area look even more aesthetically pleasing than when it was doused in the sunlight. It reminded her of the sets from photo shoots or music videos with dimly lit lighting.

A groan came from where Hyunjin had been hunched over on the couch, and Heejin carefully looked over to where the other girl lay curled up in the fetal position. "Heejin..."

Not being able to restrain herself any longer, Heejin shuffled over to where Hyunjin grumbled quietly. The blood was rushing through her ears the closer she got, because Hyunjin's eyes were still glowing that wild yellow and her fangs were now poking slightly into her lower lip. Still, she crouched beside where she was sat and asked her what was wrong in a quiet voice.

"Tie me up." Hyunjin whimpered, clenching her eyes shut. Her shoulders were shaking terribly, the apparent cold that had seeped into her body riveting her but also forcing her muscles to relax repeatedly. "Please, I think I'm going to... do something stupid. If you don't."

She had pictured the request being phrased to her. She had thought about how she would react and what she would do in response. Although her heart would tell her not to, and her brain would remind her that it was wrong of her to do so, her body would still guide her hands to the pile of rope lying helplessly on the floor. With quiet words of pertinence and assurance that she wouldn't be doing it to hurt her, she would do as Hyunjin asked an restrain her. She would be able to return to her spot in the kitchen and continue to watch the city nightlife go by until Haseul returned.

But her reaction was nothing like she had imagined.

It was so much harder to follow after the instructions manual that she had left herself in her brain in case of situations like these when the situation was happening to her in the moment.

"Heejin." Hyunjin opened her eyes when she didn't respond, glaring at her slightly. "You have to tie me up."

Out of what she thought was desperation and perhaps fear, Heejin gently shook her head. "No. I can't do that."

Jolting up, Hyunjin looked at her with wild eyes. "What do you mean 'you can't'?" Heejin wasn't fazed when the other girl bared her fangs at her. She knew she was just doing it to try to scare her away. "I'm a monster, Heejin. People tie monsters up. So tie me up."

Once more, Heejin gently shook her head. "You're not a monster. You're not a monster." Cautiously, (for Hyunjin's safety or for her own, it was impossible to tell) she edged closer to Hyunjin and began to reach out. "You're just hungry, and I can help. I can help you."

"Heejin, get the fuck away from me." Hyunjin growled, speeding up from her place on the couch and moving a good distance away from her. Her voice was shaking vulnerably, and Heejin could see the way that she swallowed when her throat moved up and down. "You are not letting me do anything to you, okay? I'm not doing anything to you."

A thing about Heejin was that once she had made her mind up about something, it was nearly impossible to change it. Nothing could change the idea that her and Hyunjin were meant to be. Nothing could change the idea that she would do anything for Hyunjin even if it meant laying down her life. Now, nothing could change the idea that she had the ability to help Hyunjin when no one else could, and she could stop her from being in pain. She could stop the torment that she was going through.

"Hyun..." It may have been manipulative of her to purposefully drop her voice and call out her name like that, but it worked its magic and halted Hyunjin's movements altogether. She began to glide closer, keeping Hyunjin's wide-blown eyes on her. "I want to help you."

"I-I-" Hyunjin swayed where she was standing, debating on whether she should go forward or backward.

"You're the smartest person I have ever met," Heejin said. Her heart bounced excitedly in her chest once she was in reach of the other girl, but she refrained from touching her just yet. "You don't want to hurt me. And I trust that you know what to do so that you won't hurt me."

"I'm not going to let you do that..." Hyunjin continued to resist, a guilty frown marring her features. A warmth spread through Heejin's chest, and she was almost grateful that Hyunjin was behaving this way because it showed her just how much she cared about her. "I don't want to put you in this kind of situation."

Delicately, Heejin met the tips of her fingers to Hyunjin's warm cheek. When she saw little resistance, she continued their path, brushing further along her cheek until her palm was cupping her face gently. Her finger grazed Hyunjin's burning ear and slipped into her tangled strands of hair, curling her thumb slightly to push down lightly on a pressure point where her jaw met her neck. It encouraged Hyunjin's eyes to flutter close and relax in her hands, the weight of her head now leaning into Heejin's palm.

"I trust you, Hyun." Heejin whispered. The raw texture to her voice betrayed her emotions.

There was still conflict in Hyunjin's hesitant eyes, but Heejin ignored it. Instead, she allowed herself to step closer and lean up to plant a small kiss on her warm lips.

"I love you." Grazing the words so they'd be painted on Hyunjin's lips, Heejin pulled back a little to look into Hyunjin's eyes. Pleased with the amount of affection harbored there, she allowed herself to close her eyes and lay her life in Hyunjin's hands.

Hyunjin nervously held her by the waist, the touch there so soft that Heejin barely even registered that she was touching her at all. There was a lot that she was holding back when they kissed, a clear contrast to the way that she had kissed her so openly and passionately the night before. But still, Heejin's head still spun just from the idea that she was able to hold the girl that she loved like this, and the happiness in her chest fluttered in content.

With her hand, she gently guided Hyunjin's head downwards and towards the bare column of her neck. She could almost feel her own blood pulsating through her entire body; at her fingertips, in the artery in her neck, rushing right in her ears.

She could feel every single breath out of Hyunjin's lips as she mouthed, "I'm sorry" against her skin. Then a long, closed-mouthed kiss right above where her blood coursed up from her heart and into her head before the kiss opened and Heejin could feel the juxtaposing sensations of the sharpness in Hyunjin's fangs and the softness in her tongue.

It felt like getting a needle stuck in her body when she needed to get her blood drawn out at the doctors, only that the slight jolt of pain was in her neck rather than her arm. Surprisingly, she found that it wasn't as painful as she had anticipated.

Actually, it wasn't bad at all.

The pain of feeling sharp objects literally inside her throat was overwhelmed by every single other sensation that came along with it. Like how every three seconds or so Hyunjin would readjust her mouth to get a new angle to have better access at her blood, so her lower lip would brush on her skin. Or how she could rest her head against Hyunjin's when she felt herself becoming too light-headed and hear every sound that she was making. Or, the best part of it all, how one of Hyunjin's arm was wrapped around her back coaxing it to arc into her body as the other just hugged her closer.

It felt like she was connected to Hyunjin.

Whimpering, Heejin felt herself beginning to lose consciousness.

Hyunjin instantly pulled away when she heard her, though did so carefully so her fangs wouldn't accidentally tear open her skin and cause blood to literally spill everywhere. She was finding it hard to see where she was, so she barely even felt Hyunjin quickly and methodically licking over the open wounds to wipe away any blood that was left.

"Are you okay?" Hyunjin asked carefully, still supporting her entire weight as Heejin tried to get her head to stop spinning. "Did I take too much?"

With a soft laugh, Heejin buried her head in Hyunjin's hair in embarrassment. "No, I'm okay." She drawled, her arms which were wrapped around Hyunjin's shoulders feeling limp. "I'm just a little tired after that, that's all."

She felt Hyunjin nodding against her head in understanding, her grip on her tightening even more. They stood there in silence for a good while, listening to the faint humming of something that sounded like a large machine and the bubbling of the aquarium from the stairs. It felt like the most serene moment in Heejin's day, and she wouldn't mind letting herself stay in Hyunjin's arms until she fell asleep. Which was what she felt like was about to happen when her eyes drooped closed.

Just as her consciousness was fading, she felt Hyunjin plant a kiss right behind her ear and whisper words back.

"I love you, too."


	18. eighteen

Hyunjin shot her a charming smile. There was a towel wrapped around her neck to stop her wet hair from getting onto her new, clean shirt, and she rubbed at the strands between the soft fabric of her towel. The color had returned to her skin, and she seemed to be walking and talking more stabler than she was just half-an-hour ago, considering the fact that she'd had a seizure that lasted around two minutes.

Reflexively, the muscles on her face pulled to give a smile back. She was hesitant in the way she padded over to where she was standing, as if she were looking at someone other than her best friend and lover. There was a shyness to the way she moved like there were mines embedded into the floorboards, or that at any moment now someone could come out and embarrass her in front of someone she truly wanted to give a good impression to. Even though now that she thought about it, there really was no point to wanting to impress Hyunjin when they'd known each other for a couple of years now.

When she came to stand before Hyunjin, she found her heart fluttering lightly in her chest. It was as if she would never get used to that emotion.

"I was... scared." Heejin's hand skirted Hyunjin's knuckles in the most tentative of manners, before slipping her fingers into her palm and letting their hands drop to hang between them. "I was scared that something bad would happen to you."

Hyunjin's smile fell from her face. Her eyes searched her entire being, looking for an answer inside of Heejin. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"You don't have to be sorry." With caution, Heejin squeezed her fingers. There was something in the way that her gaze felt heavy on her -- almost physically heavy so that every inch of her skin would be crawling under it. The thought that she wouldn't have gotten the chance to experience that sensation ever again made every single cell inside of her body want to combust, and it just made her want to hold the other girl close and never let her go. "Can I just- Can we..."

Wordlessly, Hyunjin released the hold on her hand and moved so that she'd be standing right in her space. Without a care in the world and for time, she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her against her body into a secure hug. "Is this okay?"

She just nodded. It was exactly what she needed, and she was grateful that Hyunjin could understand that without her having to express herself verbally. The comfort that she found, having Hyunjin's heart beating right against her chest that was rising and falling with every breath that she took, it made all of the anxiety that she was having dissipate. After the moment that they had shared earlier, she couldn't help but feel an inexplicable bond to Hyunjin that was somehow stronger than the one they had shared before. As if now there was something solidifying their relationship that wasn't there previously, and it was making her want to be even closer to her than they already were, which was stupid because she was already practically squeezing the life out of her.

Not even moments later, the sound of keys singing out and jangling from outside of the house interrupted their calm silence.

Hyunjin pulled away from her, though she kept a protective arm around her shoulders to keep her close to her torso. "They're back." Her tone was defensive in a way, bu Heejin could hear the slight longing in her voice that betrayed just how much she actually wanted to see them.

The door burst open with fervor, and through it came charging the group of women that had left several hours ago.

Heejin refrained from gasping when Vivi charged through with an unconscious girl in her arms. Her long jacket was pulled from her body in disarray, and her reddish hair was pulled from the low ponytail she had apparently styled it in during their outing. However, she wore a look of pure concentration with the way her eyebrows pulled together and her eyes were ablaze with determination the way she carried the person in her arms, who wore their school uniform in tatters and rips. The way her black hair swung from her limp head in time with Vivi's steps made something in Heejin's stomach churn, and she wondered if the girl was dead.

"What the-" Hyunjin stepped towards Vivi, only for her to rush past her and to a clear area between the couch and the dining table. "Is that Chaewon?"

So they had found her.

As if choreographed, Kim Lip brushed past them with an equally disheveled quality to her appearance. It was already bad enough that she had the left overs of her and Jinsoul's dispute, now her clothes were just as rugged as her face and the amount of anxiety she was exuding was enough for Heejin to begin to feel nervous. In her hand was a filthy, dirt-stained, hand-sized bag clutched between her fingers.

"What are you doing with her?" Hyunjin followed after them, and Heejin tailed her without a second thought. "How do you even know her?"

Vivi didn't respond, and neither did Kim Lip, who was busy with taking out some of the contents of the bag she was holding. It was the same black, sandy substance that had encased Hyunjin in a circle just a few hours ago, and she was laying it out in the same shape on the floor where there was enough space to do so. The way that Vivi mumbled quiet instructions to her, and Kim Lip responded through her actions and the way she spread out the substance, it made the whole situation clearer to Heejin.

Through the door, Jinsoul helped carry the new girl with Yerim at her other side.

Hyejoo looked weakened, and paler than she had been when she had first met her. Sweat was covering her face, sticking her hair to the side of it as if she had just ran a marathon, but her eyes remained open. Even if they were daring to close with how exhausted she looked.

"Make sure you prepare it correctly." Jinsoul called out as she closed the door behind them, distracted with assisting Hyejoo.

Kim Lip rolled her eyes, skirting around the circle she had already created it and finishing it off. "Quit nagging me." The response was mumbled, but it was loud enough for it to reach Jinsoul, who helped prop up Hyejoo against the couch with the help of Yerim.

"You wouldn't need nagging if you did things right." Jinsoul shot back, tugging at her coat and tearing it off of her frame. She still wore the white tank top underneath that revealed the scar on her chest, and it somehow made her look even more intimidating than with the coat on.

"Hold on, you're doing the same thing that you did to me to her?" Hyunjin interrupted, now sounding livid and indignant than before. There was obvious hurt when her words cut through the air, a hint of bitterness when she spoke about what they had done to her. Heejin could understand the hurt that she must have gone through while trying to process the fact that the people that she had trusted had clearly though of her as a monster, and had caged her with spells as if she were some demonic power. It showed in the way her frown was marred deep in her features, and the threatening glare that she shot Kim Lip when she backed away from the complete circle. "I'm not going to let you do that."

Jinsoul straightened her posture and rubbed at her arms, as if trying to rid herself of insects crawling on her skin. "Kitten-"

"No." Hyunjin also puffed out her chest, her chin tilting in a seething manner. "Whatever you think she did, she didn't do it." Her stance protectively shifted so that she would be between Chaewon and Jinsoul. "She's innocent."

Something inside of Heejin twisted. She knew Hyunjin like she knew the back of her hand. In her desperation of trying to get closer to the other girl as much as she could, being unable to do so in a romantic sense, she took to learning each and every quirk of hers and doing her best to help adapt to them. So she knew that when she was decided on something so stubbornly, nothing could change her mind.

Even if she was wrong in this sense.

"She's a deity, that's what she is."

Everyone -- quite ironically -- turned to look at Hyejoo. She was still struggling to catch her breath, hunched over with a grimace on her face. Beside her, Yerim was trying to help soothe whatever muscle she had pulled on her back or shoulder by massaging it with her hands, concern over her features as she did so.

Hyunjin bristled when she saw the new face, a look of surprise crossing her facade before being replaced with that challenging glint to her eye. "No she's not. She's a human -- I've talked to her, and I know that she's not anything but that." The certainty in her voice almost made Heejin believe her words, but the memory of Chaewon's hair literally turning blonde right before her and something being awoken inside of her prevented her from doing so. "You wouldn't know. You just got here."

Equally outraged, Hyejoo shot up from her place on the couch despite Yerim's concern. Her eyes darkened considerably, just as Kim Lip's would whenever she would become too emotional, except there was a certain factor that proved the irises devoid of color.

Adapting to the visual change, Hyunjin flashed her yellow eyes back at her challengingly, as if daring her to step out of line and attack her. Heejin felt like she was watching two pairs of dogs struggling over a bone for dominance, foam at their sharp teeth and anger to their entire being. Despite her initial fear of the terrifyingly supernatural hue of Hyunjin's eyes, she couldn't help but worry about her safety if an argument were to break out. Because the stance that Hyejoo assumed and the hellish color in her own, sharp, dangerous eyes had to have some power in it because it had her stepping back from her in fear.

"Who even are you." Hyunjin growled threateningly, her fangs flashing in her grimace.

Something in Hyejoo changed.

It wasn't visible. Heejin didn't know if anyone else could see it too, but there was a black, looming shadow standing behind Hyejoo's figure that reached up and touched the tall ceiling of the room. It was faint, like an image of some other dimension that pressed itself into theirs and made itself just faintly visible -- like a stain in their timeline -- but it was prominent enough for Heejin to see it menacingly fixed over Hyejoo.

"I'm about to be your worst fucking nightmare if you don't shut up and listen to me."

-

The whole room was tense. That suffocating atmosphere that threatened to shatter under all of the strong personalities gathered in one space was making Heejin want to get out of there while she still could, but she knew hat that wasn't a viable option now that all of the things that had happened... happened.

"It's more complex than that." Hyejoo spoke from where she had quietly been observing Kim Lip's explanation.

Once she had gotten the room under control, Hyejoo had ordered Vivi to put Chaewon in the circle of black sand and told everyone to stand back. Heejin didn't ever believe in the black magic from the horror movies, nor did she really believe in spirits in the after life. But watching Hyejoo chant strange words in some dead language that she had never heard of before, strands of her dark hair lifting up from what she could only assume was static electricity in the air and the black shadow looming over her spreading out so it encased Chaewon's unconscious body in a small bubble -- she really had no choice but to believe it. Otherwise she'd be completely insane.

Kim Lip, to her credit, looked more irritated than intimidated by Hyejoo. "It's what I know." There was attitude in her tone, and Heejin winced at the way it came off aggressive. "And anyway, you're a human, right? How much would you know about something like this?"

Hyejoo rolled her eyes so hard that her head tilted in that direction. Uncrossing her arms, she walked closer to the circle where Chaewon was being kept in, crouching beside it and observing her as if she were just seconds away from reaching out and poking her foot. "Son Hyejoo -- AKA, me -- is human." Likely out of curiosity and perhaps a tinge of fear, no one said a word to interrupt the silence. (Though Heejin thought that Hyejoo seemed to take a liking to giving a dramatic flare to the way she spoke and presented her information.) Turning her head to look right at Kim Lip as she said the following words, a slow smirk played out on her face. "Olivia -- AKA, my little friend -- is a deity."

Instantly, Kim Lip's stance became defensive. Maybe it was because Heejin had already been expecting something to this degree to be revealed, or it was because of what Kim Lip had told her in the car while they had been alone, but she noticed the way that Jinsoul instinctively moved from her position beside Hyunjin and took a step closer to Kim Lip as if to back her up.

"You're a deity?" Jinsoul wore a sneer on her face, her eyes lighting up that chilling blue. It seemed that everyone else followed suit, because anyone who had the ability to had changed the hue of their irises to a bright, neon color that displayed an array of different pigments.

Again, Hyejoo rolled her eyes and pushed herself up from her crouching position. "No. I'm a human -- Olivia is a deity." She said it as if it were something that should be obvious, but this was a concept that was difficult to grasp. "I would let you meet her, but..." The young girl's hand played with the choker around her neck, an emotionless grin on her face that somehow made her look less friendly than if she were to just remain stoic. "Let's just say that she doesn't really like to play nice."

It did nothing to calm Jinsoul or Kim Lip down. "Can she play nice right now?" Jinsoul's fists subtly tightened at her sides.

"Ha." The humorless laugh made a Heejin shift uncomfortably in her place. "She's not coming out any time soon. Trust me."

Beside Heejin, Hyunjin restlessly tugged at the ends of her towel hanging around her neck. She could feel how restless she was from the way she would refuse to remain still for even just a second. (Momentarily, she wondered where she got all the energy from when she had just recovered from a seizure.) Her eyes refused to stray from where Chaewon was lying lifelessly and where Hyejoo was standing as if this were the most boring situation in the world.

"So?" Kim Lip asked, moving back. (Which would place her just in front of Jinsoul, their shoulders almost touching at the proximity.) "Explain the complexity of the situation."

For a moment, Hyejoo stared blankly at Kim Lip. Heejin really thought that she would lunge out at her and punch her in the face, but instead she just chuckled under her breath and edged around the circle, brown eyes observing Chaewon. "I mean, I don't think we have the time to go through everything..."

"Cut to the chase." Jinsoul glared at Hyejoo dangerously, and Hyunjin shuffled slightly to stand closer to her.

"You were right when you said that the blonde girl that we fought was a deity -- and that that deity was Gowon." Hyejoo rubbed at her neck, though her face was relaxed. "But this," she gestured towards Chaewon's body with a lazy flick of the wrist, "is not Gowon. This is that friend of yours." She addressed Hyunjin when she said that, but the latter didn't appreciate it.

No one said anything. Heejin could slightly grasp what she was trying to say; there was a movie that she had watched with some of her friends that had involved someone having multiple personalities, so she figured that that was what Hyejoo was vaguely trying to say. But judging from the blank expressions and the slight frown on Vivi's face as she critically looked at the dark haired girl, it wasn't registering to the rest of the listeners as well as if had for her.

"Thing is... deities can't really... exist on our plane of existence. At least not without a little help." Hyejoo observed their expressions. When her gaze landed on Heejin, her face glinted with recognition. Just as she was about to acknowledge how she looked like she was the only one who had understood what she was talking about, Hyunjin defensively stepped in front of her and completely blocked her from her view. Heejin couldn't really see what the other girl's reaction was, but she imagined that it was another eye roll because she continued speaking. "Okay, let me put it a way you'll understand- deities need hosts to survive in our plane, which means that Olivia is currently using me as a host just like Gowon is using this girl as a host."

Stubbornly, Heejin stepped around Hyunjin so that she could at least see what was going on. When she did so, Hyunjin spared her a bothered glance and grabbed at her hand as if she were afraid she would move away from her.

"They're two separate beings." Hyejoo said. "They need each other to survive."

"Right..." Kim Lip moved away from the circle, running a hand down her face as if the whole explanation had just exhausted her even more.

"And are there any limitations to those powers that Gowon was using earlier?" Jinsoul pushed forward, seeming intrigued in what the girl was saying. "Anything that we could use to our advantage? Anything that we can do to stop her at all?"

Hyejoo didn't reply for a good while, looking at Jinsoul with a deadpan expression. "No. Not that I know of, no." 

It was a cold and blunt response. There was a finality to her tone that even Jinsoul had to respect when she too turned away from the scene and began to pace around back and forth.

Hyunjin's hold on Heejin's hand was strong, the force of it almost cutting the circulation to her fingers. Her eyes still glinted that yellow, which Heejin looked up to in mild frustration. She understood that she was protective over her and that she was wary of her being able to keep herself safe in a room full of strong beings, but she also wasn't a child -- she had a conscience and some common sense. At the same time, however, she couldn't help but swoon over the lengths that the girl would go to just so that she would be safe. It was a strange clash, and the contrasting emotions made Heejin confused as to whether she wanted to punch Hyunjin right now or grab her face and kiss her.

In an unspoken conversation, Hyunjin urged her to keep behind her at all times. She did so by pushing her gently so she'd stand behind her again, and lightly pulled her arms so they'd wrap around her torso. A soft blush danced on Heejin's cheeks when she did so, aware of the watchful gazes that Yerim and Vivi were casting them from their place on the couch. But it was easy to ignore when Hyunjin leant back against her chest and leant her head against hers, urging her to rest her chin on her shoulder.

It was a weird situation to be in. An unconscious girl on the floor in front of them while several vampires observed their public display of affection as if it were an oddity.

But something inside of Heejin spurred her to say 'to heck with it' and tighten her hold on Hyunjin while she still could. She figured that if they didn't really like it, they could just use their necks and swivel their heads away.

When she placed an affectionate kiss to the corner of Hyunjin's jaw (near the bottom of her ear, because that's where her height would allow her to reach naturally), the other girl froze in her hold. She almost thought she had done something wrong with the way every muscle in Hyunjin's back had tightened against her chest. But when Hyunjin unexpectedly nuzzled her head harder into hers with a small grin on her lips, she found her heart fluttering around in her ribcage as if it were a bird attempting a mating dance.

For a few moments, Heejin was able to find happiness in such a messed up situation.

Of course, nothing would ever be able to run smoothly when the love of her life was a vampire and the people around her were involved with dark magic and goddesses.

"Wow, I'm impressed."

Heejin jolted at the sound of the familiar, light and frail voice. Except now that it was voiced out with a lot more confidence and sarcasm, it sounded more like a taunting tone rather than the usual shyness that it held to it when Chaewon spoke.

"I didn't think that you would have enough brain cells to put together something like this." Where Chaewon had been lying down, now a blonde version of her with shining turquoise eyes sat: poised and prepared, as if she were royalty of some kind waiting to be served by her subjects.

Immediately, Kim Lip and Jinsoul returned to their positions, as well as Vivi and Yerim standing to attention from where they had been resting on the couch. Hyunjin's hands glided over Heejin's and interlaced their fingers, a silent reminder of what they had mutually agreed to and a reassurance that she would be there to protect her if things went south.

Hyejoo, who had been uninterestedly strolling back and forth behind the blonde girl, froze in her place. There was a strange look on her face that Heejin didn't know how to read very well, but just as she had seen earlier, the choker around her neck tightened and in time her eyes began to tint that black once more.

"Huh, what an interesting group of individuals..." That must be Gowon. There was nothing about the way that she moved in such a calculated manner, and spoke with an air of entitlement, that resembled Chaewon in any way, shape, or form. Heejin almost thought that she was looking at another person entirely with the way the muscles on her face pulled so differently to form a mocking smile. "This is no way to welcome a goddess into the mortal realm."

A shiver ran down Heejin's spine. The amount of power emanating from the tiny body was staggering.

"I would have expected a little bit more of a warm welcome from... ah, what was it?" Gowon's eyes narrowed when she landed her gaze on Jinsoul, roving her appearance up and down as if she were scanning the quality of meat at a market. "Jung Jinsol?"

The air in the room froze. Heejin held her breath when the name was spoken out loud -- as if it held some deeper meaning other than the blonde's name. She remembered the way that her parents had crazed over the name as if it were straight out of some legend from the fairytales -- they had pronounced it with such incredulity and respect. Even when she had met the owner of the name, it hadn't really had much of an impact. But hearing it coming out of the deity's mouth as if it were general knowledge that was required for everyone to know, it made Heejin's heart stop in her chest. It was worse for Hyunjin, who's feet instinctively stuttered in the direction of her guardian as if it were her second nature to stand at Jinsoul's side.

"You know who I am." Jinsoul stated more than asked. She was doing a good job at remaining just as nonchalant as the other being, but Heejin could see the minor tremble to her fingers.

"Of course." Gowon absently brushed the blonde locks into place. The way that she moved her hands to fix the loose strands, flicking them upwards at the end of their trajectory, resembled royalty from the dramas that would play every Saturday night during dinner. "Jung Jinsol~" Eyelids came to close over turquoise eyes as Gowon drawled out the name. "Creator of the New Era, and the sanguisuge who single-handedly founded the syndicate itself. A great feat, I must say. Really, you're an icon in the middle world."

She sang her sentences out loud, light and frilly -- but the information anything but.

Hyunjin snapped her head to look at Jinsoul. She didn't seem to have known that piece of information, it seemed, because Heejin could already sense the slight betrayal in the way her whole body tensed.

"Seems to have a mild issue with following her own rules, however." Gowon placed her fore-finger lightly on her chin before tilting her head sideways. "Track record of turning humans to sanguisuge..." In an almost rehearsed manner, Gowon twisted her hand and put up her middle-finger to make a peace sign, a bright smile playing on her face. "Two?"

In a flash, Jinsoul was standing right before the circle, the only thing stopping her being Vivi with a hand on her chest, followed by Kim Lip's unsteady stance right beside her. "Why do you know all of this?" Heejin may not have been too intimidated by Jinsoul anymore, but the growl produced by the back of her throat and the guttural sound that resonated in her bones as a consequence of it made her seek refuge in Hyunjin's back. "Who told you? Why- why do you know that?"

Something about this felt off to Heejin. It wasn't just the fact that there were two goddesses present in the room, as well as some strange black magic ritual thing and four other supernatural creatures. No, it wasn't just that. Something in her gut told her that there was something strange about Gowon knowing so much information about Jinsoul that the people around her didn't even know, and it wasn't just one of those obvious intuitions that would have her screaming at the screen of her phone telling the main character which corner to turn in a haunted house. This felt more like a warning sign.

"I know a lot of things, my sweet." Gowon's grin grew sinister, something about the way her eyes glinted raising the hairs at the back of Heejin's neck.

"Like what?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw movement. Heejin turned to look at Yerim, who had subconsciously stepped closer to where Gowon was sitting as if she were about to stop her from speaking at all. There was a strange expression on her face that she had never seen her wear before -- a sick kind of paleness as if she were about to throw up over her shoes any second now. There had been something off with Yerim the whole night, even when she and Kim Lip had burst into the house earlier, she looked as if she were harboring some emotions behind those eyes of hers that would usually spill out over the top in lengthy sentences and excitable laughs.

"Ooh, do I have- how is it you mortals say it... the tea?" Heejin blinked at the goddess, wondering whether laughing at the incredulity of something as old and powerful as her saying something from their slang would be appropriate or not. Gowon looked vaguely pleased with herself for forming the sentence, but it only made the trio staring her off confused as to what she was saying. "This host sure does love to stare at that screen of hers..." The blonde gestured to her body, probably referring to Chaewon rather than herself. "I am learning quite a lot about this century -- I have to say, it's amazing what humanity can achieve when they're not trying to kill each other off like-"

"Is this necessary?" Vivi interrupted sharply, the authority trying to assert itself in her voice.

"Right! Where was I..." Gowon clapped her hands excitedly before scanning the room. With a fluid movement, her forefinger pointed in the direction of Yerim as if she were some kind of royalty. "One of your creations right there, aren't I right?" Yerim flinched in place, eyes wandering uneasily between the goddess and Jinsoul, who had paled considerably. "If I can remember correctly... Choi Yerim, eighteen-year-old daughter of the local village baker who was saved from the dirty, sinful hands of that Japanese slave trader by none other than the Merciful Jung Jinsol herself. Turned for various reasons other than severe illness, but the major motivation being... how should I phrase this...? Commiseration? Sympathy? Knowing how it feels to be in a situation akin to one of such?"

Heejin hadn't seen Jinsoul's face ever be so human before; her eyes glistened under the lights of the room, and her mouth hung open in disbelief. She looked broken.

Gowon turned to Yerim, looking at her square in the eye. "Tell me dearest, what is it that they called you?" Yerim remained mum, her teeth grinding together and showing in the way her jaw muscles clenched and unclenched. "Choerry? Yes, I remember that conversation."

Something was off. Very off.

"I do appreciate Choerry, don't take me wrong. I've seen the way she cares for my little host -- what a sweetheart, really. Good job at raising her." Gowon flashed two thumbs up at Jinsoul. The way she spoke was as if she were trying to console a parent over their child's achievements not being up to standard, and even Heejin felt a mild annoyance at how patronizing it sounded. "But I have taken a liking to your other one."

As soon as the turquoise gaze landed on Hyunjin, Heejin felt her heart drop out of her chest and sink straight through the earth and into the pits of hell.

'Taken a liking?' What the hell did that even mean? What was she talking about?

"Kim Hyunjin~"

The way the Gowon drawled out that name, in Chaewon's voice, who Heejin had been spending her past few days being jealous over, made Heejin want to drop anything and everything and beat her senseless. Even if who she would be fighting would be a goddess. Who could probably obliterate her with a swish of the hand. It didn't matter when she was looking at Hyunjin -- her person -- like that. Like she was about to eat her or something. Who the hell stares at someone like that, Heejin's thoughts were running wild, including vivid scenes of her poking out those bluish eyes with a fork.

"I told you that the next time we would meet I would know your name." Gowon smirked, letting her eyes wander up and down Hyunjin's appearance as if it were just something she could do without permission. "Have you missed me, love?"

Hyunjin inhaled sharply, her grip on Heejin's hands slacking. "It's you." Recognition tinged her voice, along with fear and dread. "You're the one from the fields."

Heejin's hold on Hyunjin loosened. What was Hyunjin talking about? Did she seriously meet Gowon before? Did she not acknowledge the fact that she had referred to her as 'love' because she was used to it or because she just didn't register. Did she... reciprocate the love?

"You remember me." Gowon sounded pleasantly surprised, the smirk on her face deepening even more at the fact. "I remember you. Very innocent, very hopeful. You seem to have a liking for... brunettes," as she said that, her eyes flashed over to Heejin, who's grip remained on the sides of Hyunjin's shirt protectively, "but do not worry. We will fix that for you."

Jinsoul defensively blocked Hyunjin from Gowon's sight, pushing her backwards and away from her as if the deity were some bomb about to detonate. Her eyebrows tugged together in a frown, and her scowl revealed the sharpness of her fangs that had extended outward threateningly. "You won't be doing anything to her. You can't get out of that spell any time now."

Gowon arched an eyebrow. The look of disbelief on her face was enough to belittle any of Jinsoul's efforts, along with the quick once over that she gave her that degraded anything that the blonde did. "Right. Because I am trapped. Oh no...~" Dismissively, Gowon fixed her torn up school skirt and brushed off whatever dust had formed there. "You know, you are lucky that my little host likes you so much because otherwise I would have all of your heads-"

A painful expression dominated over Gowon's features, forcing her eyelids to squeeze shut tightly. Almost as if she were convulsing, she hunched over the floor and began to breathe heavily, her breaths coming out in unsteady groans. The roots of her hair began to darken over the blonde, as if something had blocked out the sun and was casting a shadow over the glistening locks, though it seemed to be struggling to gain control. When her head lifted up again, it was brown eyes that met theirs. They were frantic and panicking, the greens and blues attempting to flood back into the irises, but they managed to land right on their target.

"Get out." Gowon -- or Chaewon -- whoever it was spoke weakly. Shadows formed underneath the weary eyes, though the panic and anxiety were very present. "Get out, Hyunjin. Leav-"

Of course, no one was able to react because the whole thing was so strange.

But perhaps they should have, because Gowon was back with a pissed off smile on her face. And this was the moment where Heejin's sixth sense was confirmed.

"Hyunjin." She addressed her with familiarity in her voice, along with a sickly smirk as she looked directly at Jinsoul when she said the following words. "Break me out."

Heejin didn't even have the chance to blink before Hyunjin was out of her arms.

She kicked the sand away from the circle. Effectively breaking the spell.

The next thing Heejin knew, she was flying across the room and sliding over the wooden floorboards.

Gasping, Heejin tried to blink away the black spots coloring her vision and try to regain her sense of direction by reaching out with her hands and palming the floor. It felt as if the air was squeezed out of her lungs and compressed together, any breaths she was taking proving completely futile as she just gaped with her open mouth like a fish out of the water. It was similar to having someone kick her chest and push her down a flight of stairs, the bottom of her spine aching uncomfortably even as she just lay there. For a good moment, she couldn't hear anything. She knew that there was noise happening, but she couldn't hear anything other than the blood pulsating through her ears.

When she managed to intake some oxygen, she had half the mind to drag herself away from the situation. Steadily, she managed to position herself near the front door, which was far away from the action happening in the center of the living room. 

She couldn't make out much, because most of the fighting taking place was being carried out at a speed she could barely even register.

But she could make out the way Hyunjin was fighting against Vivi as if she wanted her dead, which made absolutely no sense to her because they were on the same side. Her moves were swift and powerful, kicking at her shins as if she wanted to shatter the bone, only for Vivi to dodge every hit. She played on the offense while the red-head played on the defense, unwilling to hurt her back.

What used to be a normal looking girl was now an elevated being with a glowing aura that was almost blinding in a way. Bright bursts of energy would shoot out of her hands like fire, aiming directly for the blur that was Jinsoul and Kim Lip's figure that lithely dodged any incoming attack. Wherever the energy touched, a black, burn-like stain would be left behind on the surface. It hurt her eyes to look at her directly, as if she were staring at the sun in the eyes, but she could make out a faint grimace on Gowon's face as she tried to scope out her enemies.

Heejin slumped helplessly against the door.

Sure she wasn't like the rest of them: she was only a human. She had no super-speed that would help her while trying to dodge whatever flame-like abilities Gowon seemed to posses. She had no demonic powers that would help her apparate to different spots in the room and then try to lure the enemy into a black magic spell. She didn't have the precision or skill to hold back a sanguisuge working her best to destroy her -- much less the mental strength to actually fight against Hyunjin.

What was she doing here?

All she could do was watch this play out from the sidelines and hope that Gowon would forget that she was even there. Otherwise she would cause an inconvenience to the others and be even more of a nuisance than she was before.

Somehow, among all of the chaos, she managed to meet Yerim's wide eyes.

She was just standing there behind the kitchen counter as if she were scared to join in with the fight. And honestly, Heejin couldn't really blame her when she was doing the exact same thing, since the thing that they were fighting was a literal goddess from another dimension with god-like powers. But Yerim was a sanguisuge, and she did have super-speed, and she did have enough precision and skill to be able to at least stop Hyunjin from attacking at Vivi so violently. She had charged into the fight when the monster had attacked them the other night, so where was that valor and bravery that she had displayed last night?

Frowning at her, Heejin vaguely gestured to the fight with her head. Yerim replied with a reluctant shake of the head and a sorrowful pull to her eyebrows.

Promptly, a loud scream pierced the air, which diverted both of their attention to where it had originated from.

Jinsoul had been sent scattered against the couch, which slid a meter or two across the room from the force of the impact of the collision of her body against it. From where she was propped up against, Heejin could see the way Jinsoul's shoulder awkwardly popped out of place, looking as if it were in a painful position. Even just looking at it from the safety of the door made her stomach churn uneasily, nausea swelling in her head as she pictured how painful it must be to be in Jinsoul's position in that moment. She was clutching at her shoulder, desperately attempting to stand up from her place as if she could even do anything to continue her fight, but another blast aimed at her stomach sent her flying back into the couch and toppling over the back.

With widened, alarmed eyes, Heejin gestured at Yerim to make her move.

Not even sparing another thought, Yerim vaulted over the kitchen island and sped over to where Jinsoul was lying half-conscious on the floor.

From somewhere near the stairs, Kim Lip shouted "it would be great for you to use your powers right now" to Hyejoo, who had been struggling with her own internal battle.

"Working on it!" The girl shouted back, her hands scratching and tearing at her neck as if trying to get rid of a bug.

When Vivi appeared in front of Heejin and holding onto her arm, she jumped so hard that she bumped her back hard against the wall. Despite the sharp pain that it sent crawling all the way up her spine and into the back of her head, she managed to scatter out of the way when Hyunjin shoved Vivi up against the very same wall.

A dreadful gargling sound escaped Vivi's lips, which had been painted a bright red by what Heejin could only assume to be her own blood. Her hands used a snappish martial art movement to remove Hyunjin's hands from her shoulders, but the latter appeared to be faster and stronger and had her pinned back just as easily as she had done so the first time. Judging by the grimace on her face, she seemed to be running out of energy.

"Hyunjin! Stop it!" Heejin had pushed herself up from the floor and tried prying away Hyunjin's hands from Vivi by the elbow.

Robotically, Hyunjin slowly turned her head to look at her in the eyes. Her eyelids were pulled back to give a crazed look to her animalistic yellow eyes, the heinous scowl tugging up to reveal treacherous poison-filled teeth. Strings of saliva hung between the top to the bottom of her teeth, where her tongue was dangerously pushing against as if she were salivating for her next meal. Amidst all the chaos and turbulence, Heejin heard a macabre hiss rise out from the back of her throat aimed directly at her.

She proved to be a good enough distraction for Vivi to land a punch directly against her cheek.

As Hyunjin staggered backwards, holding onto her face in shock, the front door was pushed open.

Heejin didn't know how to react when she saw Haseul standing there, a medical bag in one of her hands as the other held her phone displaying the call screen as 'Lil' Lentil Bean'. And apparently Haseul didn't know how to react either when she saw the way that a savage Hyunjin had been punched in the face by an injured Vivi.

"What the fu-"

"Seul." Vivi immediately disappeared from Heejin's vision when she used her speed, taking Haseul with her to probably another, quieter, safer location.

Which left Heejin staring at a wild Hyunjin.

The way that Hyunjin stalked towards her was reminiscent of those predators in the savanna, nimbly treading through tall grass as they hunted down their prey. That's what she felt like in that moment. Like prey.

Her fight or flight instinct kicked in, though she was surprised to find that her mind automatically leaned more towards the 'fight' rather than the 'flight'. (Curse the Pottermore quiz for sorting her into Gryffindor -- of course that would be her immediate reaction instead of taking the smart way out and running away.)

Heejin's hands went for Hyunjin's neck just as the latter lunged out at her with her fangs prepared. It was enough to momentarily shock her and choke her airway just enough to knock the breath out of her, but not enough to kill her. (Heejin prayed that she hadn't accidentally killed Hyunjin while trying to protect herself.) Hyunjin's hiss turned more into a gagging sound as she struggled over her hands, looking as if she were about to vomit all over Heejin any moment now.

"Snap out of it!" Heejin strained under the strength of trying to keep Hyunjin back. If this was all she could manage while the vampire was breathless, she didn't want to find out what she could do to her at full power.

Just when she thought that she would have to resort to doing something she would regret for the rest of her life, Vivi reappeared at Hyunjin's side. She carefully pierced the skin at the side of Hyunjin's neck with the needle of a syringe -- which had been stabilized with the coincidental help of Heejin -- and began to press a drug into her.

For a moment, Heejin was scared that it had done nothing. But just as Hyunjin was going to swat at Vivi with one of her arms, her movements slowed down.

Before Heejin could even register it, Hyunjin was crumbling into Vivi's arms with her eyes half-closed.

Another yell was heard over the sound of wood shattering, this time coming from Kim Lip who had crashed onto the side with a force strong enough to send the table falling.

Gowon looked absolutely livid. She was glowing brighter than she had been earlier, but on the floorboards beneath where she was elevated, Heejin could see a small pool of what looked to be crimson blood. It was only safe to assume that Kim Lip had managed to land several hits on her with her black magic -- enough for a goddess to start bleeding. (Or perhaps just the goddess' host. Which was Chaewon.)

Heejin almost thought that she was about to end Kim Lip's life, but the light that Gowon was producing was swallowed by an abrupt darkness.

From behind her, what used to be Hyejoo began to lift off of the ground with a kind of movement Heejin had only seen in exorcism scenes in horror movies. The presence that Heejin had seen earlier had dominated over her, though not as prominently as the aura that Gowon produced.

With a burst of black energy, Gowon was sent tumbling from the air and sliding over to the edge of the window almost limply.

"Fucking finally..." Kim Lip lifted herself from the mess of chair legs and splintered wood. She was bleeding and obviously injured, but Heejin was glad to see that she was still able to walk despite it. And be so sarcastic while she was at it.

Hyejoo slowly moved to where Gowon was lying, trying to push herself up from the floor. There was a look on her face that shockingly resembled pity and something that Heejin could only relate to as longing. It was strange seeing such a clear display of emotions being displayed on Hyejoo's features, which had previously been so blank and devoid of anything that would give away any of her thoughts.

The silence was cut by a propulsion of bright energy aimed directly at Hyejoo's chest.

Hyejoo flew backwards, though she managed to hold her ground as if it had just been a simple punch instead of something that could literally burn someone. There was a brief expression of betrayal on her face before it was replaced by inscrutability once more.

"So it is you..." Gowon laughed weakly, wiping at her cheek and flicking her hand away. Blood splattered onto the glass of the windows. "I thought I felt your presence."

Oh? Heejin frowned at the sudden change of pace, taking refuge nearby where Kim Lip had leant herself up against a wall.

There was a heavy silence that fell over the room in the next couple of moments where no one said a thing. The quiet hum of that unknown machine continued to resonate in the building, and the faint sound of a breeze whistling through the leaves and arms of the trees played out as white noise. Heejin could hear the pounding of her own heart in her ears, the rushing resembling the waves of the ocean as she held her breath. She was afraid that if she even so much as huffed, then the attention would be diverted to her and another fight would ensue.

Hyejoo didn't reply for a while, though her hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly. "I'm not Olivia." Her voice was deeper than what it had been when she was speaking normally earlier, though Heejin could tell it was because she was also holding her breath. "I'm just a human."

Gowon looked like someone had just taken her money right from under her nose. She looked completely bewildered by that statement, and that was shown in the way she laughed so discreditably as if it were a mere joke Hyejoo had just said. "Oli... are you letting a mortal contain your powers?" For the first time, Gowon's expression softened into one of care and (if Heejin could even begin to associate this with someone as horrible as her) love. "I haven't seen you in so long... Have you forgotten that that is not how we play?"

As if she were cold, Hyejoo's entire body shivered. The choker around her neck looked like it tightened, showing in the way her skin began to push up against the leather. When she re-opened the eyes that she had closed momentarily, she spoke again. "Olivia knows what the agreements were to the deal that she and I made." It sounded as if she were talking to Gowon and Olivia at once. "Her letting me remain in control was in the lines of agreement."

The expression on Gowon's face morphed. Like the sun setting in the horizon, everything about her darkened into something that looked like hatred -- hatred aimed directly at Hyejoo who continued to stare her off defiantly. "What did you promise her?" She spat out, the blood running down her cheek and onto her chin marring her appearance. "What did you say you would do?"

Hyejoo just looked at Gowon with a deadpan look, appearing unfazed by her words.

"Oli, whatever it is, you have to forget about it." Gowon's face softened again, desperation tinging her voice. "I know that we both thought that Yves was gone, but she's not. There's a way that we can find her, and I found someone who can help us-"

"We don't need your help." Hyejoo's voice shook as she said this, but she remained strong in her decision. "We know how to get her back."

A million emotions crossed Gowon's face before settling on one: bitterness.

"Fine." Standing from her position, Gowon dusted herself off with that same amount of regalia she carried earlier. When she looked back at Hyejoo, there was a grin on her face that dripped of blood and poison. "You can keep Olivia here for the time being." With an abrupt blast aimed at the window, the glass of one of the large, wall panels burst and blighted into pieces. A gust of wind blew into the room, shaking the blonde locks around a bloody face that grinned with a sinister air. "But there will be a time where you will be able to grow up and see that playing around with a group of mortals who can't even tell there's a traitor among them isn't fun." Gowon hopped up into the air and let herself elevate, bright power pushing her off of the ground. "You're on the wrong side, sweetie. And I'll be waiting for you when you realize that."

Heejin blinked multiple times after Gowon disappeared from the room, taking the suffocating atmosphere in the air with her.

She couldn't believe that she had just watched something so bizarre that looked like it came out of a movie play out in front of her. At this point, if she woke up to find out it was all a dream concocted by her overly-imaginative mind, she really wouldn't be surprised.

Nothing felt real anymore. Deities and vampires and demons. Along with more blood being spilled than what she could handle.

A million thoughts ran through Heejin's mind, but there were more pressing matters to worry about.

Like how she was the traitor among 'the mortals'. 


	19. nineteen

"Thank god, you're okay..." Jinsoul gathered Hyunjin in her arms and closed her eyes tightly.

It had been a chaos after Gowon had disappeared out of the exit she had improvised. The scenery had reminded Heejin of the aftereffects of a typhoon, the storm having picked up every object in the room, tossing them around and dissipating into thin air as if it had no business being there. Which then left everything in tatters and ruins, and the people among all of this chaos struggling to gain even a little control.

Jinsoul had dealt the worst out of all of them, considering the fact that she had been the one battling the deity head on with no kind of magic to help boost her chances of victory. Heejin had seen a few injuries here and there in the past (one of the boys from her friendship group back at school had sprained his ankle during a basketball game and it hadn't been very pretty) but she had never seen an entire shoulder having been pulled out of its socket. It was no wonder that the blonde was writhing in pain on the floor, gritting her teeth so hard that Heejin was afraid she would break them from the force of the bite. Had it been Heejin in that situation, she was almost sure that she would have passed out from the immense pain and perhaps suffered slight trauma from the injury. But of course, Jinsoul shrugged it off when Haseul popped it back into place with a count of 'one... two...! Sorry.'

Still in a groggy state, Hyunjin shakily wrapped her arms around the woman. Her nose buried in her shoulder, though she didn't really open her eyes.

When Heejin had tried approaching her to see how she was faring, the other girl simply shifted away from her as if she were scared to be burned by her touch. The pain that had made her heart convulse painfully in her chest was one that was hard to ignore, but taking a look around her, she saw that there was no time to be wrapped up in her own pain when it was just something that she could momentarily push to the back of her mind.

Looking away from where Jinsoul and Hyunjin were, she instead focussed on the task at hand.

"Heejin, a bowl of warm water." Haseul looked up from where she was treating Vivi's wound, her hands coated in dark blood as she pressed down on the bleeding arm. Her expression remained that cold, calculating one that had greeted her the first time she had met her, so she just assumed that this was her in her element while trying to do her job.

She didn't hesitate to do as she was asked and moved towards the kitchen. If she couldn't help while fighting, then the least she could do was try and help when healing those who had fought for her instead.

Technically, Vivi had... saved her life (she didn't want to think of it that way, since then that would mean that Hyunjin was initially dangerous). She owed her something.

At the sink was a quiet Yerim. Her head was bowed over the pinkish rag, her hands twisting and squeezing at the material in an attempt to try and rinse out what was the blood from it. She had been quiet all day, and Heejin was beginning to grow concerned over how she was dealing with everything that was happening. Having it revealed that Jinsoul was the one that converted her into a vampire was shocking, to say the least, but judging by the way that they had interacted in the past she suspected that there was no left over tension between them. But the same care that Jinsoul displayed for Hyunjin wasn't the same for Yerim. Heejin wondered how that felt.

"Yerim-ah..." It came out quieter than what Heejin had intended it, barely even making a sound.

Yerim made no signs to show that she had heard her, but Heejin was well aware from the proximity they were standing at that the vampire had to have heard her. But as Heejin stared at her side profile, the girl pretended not to see her.

Carefully, as if trying not to scare a wild animal, Heejin touched the back of Yerim's cold hand with her pinky finger. Her movements halted, the water spraying all over her red-stained hands though her lips remaining in that same pursed position and her eyes blankly staring at the bottom of the metallic sink. When she received no response, Heejin cautiously removed the rag from her grip and instead grabbed her hands. Under her soft touch, Heejin could feel the muscles in the hand flexing from the tension in her entire body and the bones protruding against pale skin, but she didn't mind it as she began to wash away the blood from her dirty nails.

Sighing, Heejin stroked the back of Yerim's fingers with her thumb. "Did you know... about Ch- Gowon?"

Yerim didn't say anything and Heejin was too afraid to lift her head and see what kind of expression she was making, but she could feel the heavy stare pressing into the side of her face.

"You don't have to answer that," Heejin said. Slowly, her movements became pointless and their hands were just tangled together under the fresh running water, the only warmth being emanated by Heejin.

Dejectedly, Heejin pulled her hands from Yerim's and shook some water droplets off to dry them as much as she could. Just as Heejin was about to grab a small bowl from the open cupboard, Yerim grabbed at one of her wrists to get her attention, which she received immediately when Heejin turned to look at her in surprise.

"I'm sorry."

There was something in Yerim's eyes -- something in the way her eyebrows pulled upward slightly and how her lips struggled to part as if they lacked moisture -- that told her she wasn't okay. Something inside of the girl that was crying out for help without being able to verbally express it. Something that made Heejin's heart begin to jump in her chest at the possibility that Yerim really wasn't okay.

"I'm really really sorry." Yerim's voice shook, and her fingers tightened around Heejin's limp wrist. "For everything."

Heejin knew that Yerim was feeling regretful for what had happened to Hyunjin earlier that day. How she had an explanation that would have been able to liberate Hyunjin from the painful position she was in sooner, and how that would have prevented the whole seizure thing in the first place. But after all of the events that followed, Heejin didn't really have it in her heart to hold a grudge against her. Nor did she have enough emotional energy to deal with the fact that the vampire was feeling so horrible over something she had already forgiven her over.

Heejin gave her a faint smile and shook her head. "It's okay."

(Yerim looked like she wanted to say more, but Heejin just briefly wrapped her arms around her in a hug. She just hoped that it would be enough to comfort her for the time being.)

When she went back to Haseul with the bowl of warm water, the two women were exchanging several words. She minded her own business by bowing her head respectfully, though she could still hear the end of their conversation.

"It's my job to fight, not yours." Vivi scowled at her, carefully placing her hand over where Haseul had been applying pressure to her wound. Her skin admittedly looked paler than usual, though Heejin just assumed that that was a natural side effect of having lost blood.

"So you're saying that I'm just supposed to stay locked up in a room while you're out risking your life so bravely?" Haseul heatedly replied, though she still expertly handled the water with a kitchen table cloth and washed around the cut in Vivi's arm. She made sure to mouth a quick 'thank you' to Heejin as she completely took the bowl from her. "What am I? A Disney princess rip-off?"

Even as she was getting her wound treated, Vivi managed to loll her head to the side and give Haseul a deadpan look. "You know I've never liked those... drawings."

"Okay, so first you shove me in a room and leave me in there-" Haseul began wiping at the wound harder, the frustration seeping into each and every of her actions. "-and now you're telling me that my whole childhood is a lie-" Vivi flinched and groaned loudly, though she didn't do anything to stop Haseul despite the pain being inflicted on her. "-what's next? Are you going to tell me that all of my work is meaningless and everything that I do is essentially useless? Because it is. It is, I'll admit it. Nothing that I have done has managed to help you in any way and I just can't-" When Vivi literally grabbed Haseul by the chin and forced her to look up at her, Heejin's heart skipped a beat for the other human. "-I just can't... I-"

Like in one of the dramas, Vivi pulled at Haseul's chin and met her halfway.

Heejin's eyes widened.

Having effectively silenced her, Vivi leaned away and gently stroked her lower lip. "You're smart, Seul, but some things you say are incredibly stupid."

Heejin didn't blame Haseul for not reacting at all. There was a glazed over look on her eyes as she just stared at Vivi as if she were the best thing to have ever happened to her, as if she had put all of the stars in the sky and proceeded to steal them back just for her. For a moment, she wondered if that's what she looked like when she had kissed Hyunjin for the first time, but the thought only managed to make her cheeks blush in embarrassment. Despite the rant she had been going on, Haseul had fallen deadly silent. Her lips remained in a faint pout, as if she were waiting to be kissed again.

The small, cheesy grin on Vivi's face was smacked away by Haseul's merciless slaps at her chest and healthy shoulder. The small woman repeatedly shouted 'idiot' at the vampire, her entire face, ears and neck tinted a rosy color that made the corners of Heejin's mouth tug up in amusement. It was a breath of fresh air being able to watch as the two bickered as if nothing had happened in the first place, though it did leave an empty feeling in her chest when she glanced over in a certain brunette's direction.

Coincidentally, Hyunjin happened to meet her eyes in that same moment. And like always, Heejin's heart fluttered happily in her chest.

But Hyunjin looked away quickly as if she couldn't stand the sight of her, and Heejin's heart was shot and swatted down into the dirt.

"What happened earlier?" Kim Lip, who had suffered several splinters and a sore back, dropped on the couch beside what looked like a sleeping Hyejoo. (The slight disturbance made the latter open one eye and glare at the new presence, but when peace was seemingly restored she let herself sink back into her resting state.) "Why did you start attacking Vivi?"

Heejin rose from where she was crouching and warily moved to where Yerim had placed herself leaning against the kitchen table. She wanted to be beside Hyunjin, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't be very welcome.

At the question, Jinsoul defensively straightened her back and glared at Kim Lip. "Watch your tone, Kim."

Kim Lip made a face at her, laughing disbelievingly to herself. "I just asked a question." She snapped back, looking horribly irritated. (This appeared to be a running theme with the demon so far.) "What? Am I not allowed to ask questions now?"

"You won't be when I cut off your tongue." Jinsoul growled, looking as if she were about to stand up and punch the other right in the nose. Despite her words, however, she didn't look as threatening as she had when speaking to the deity earlier, so Heejin thought that that was some development in Kim Lip's favor.

"Oh dear..." An awful smirk formed on Kim Lip's split lips, which had been reopened during the fight earlier, and judging by the dark look in her eye she didn't really have the best intentions when speaking. "Why would we do that when that's one of your favorite things abo-"

The sentence was swiftly cut off with a punch to the throat, which had Kim Lip choking on her own words and struggling for air while Jinsoul looked on at the scene with a pleased smirk.

"God, stop all of this sexual tension." Hyejoo groaned loudly, pushing herself up from the couch and distancing herself from where the demon was sat. At the explicit mention of that, both women turned on the girl with outraged expressions, though she didn't even as much as flinch when faced with the terrifying glares. "I swear, you two need to figure out whatever issues you're having because frankly- I am not enjoying being in the middle of all of this foreplay." At the rising complaints from the two culprits at hand, Hyejoo made a loud noise. "Look, I don't care whether you two get together or not. I care about the reason why 'Kitten' over here was controlled by Gowon."

An awkward silence ensued.

Heejin observed the way Hyunjin uncomfortable repositioned herself. There was an upset look on her face; the sadness in her eyes was conveyed by the slight glistening of tears that lined her lower lid as if threatening to fall. Her hands were clenched at her side, most likely to allow her fingernails to dig into the palm of her hand in a habit that she gained over stressed periods of time. And all that she wanted to do was go over there and lace their fingers together to prevent that from happening, but Hyunjin wouldn't even look at her for more than a second.

Moreover, now she had to think of a way to break the news of what she had been meaning to say this whole time.

"What happened?" Jinsoul softly asked Hyunjin.

All the attention was averted to where the girl was sat near the small aquarium. The blue neon light shone down on her face, giving her a cooler, colder, sadder look than before. There was evident regret on her face that she struggled to hide behind a calm facade, and Heejin could see past it as easily as parting a curtain. "I don't know..." And the regret flowed directly into her voice. "I blacked out for a second, and then I wanted to do everything that she wanted me to do. Not what I wanted, of course, but..."

"She controlled you anyway." Hyejoo finished off. For some reason, there was mild annoyance in her voice as she spoke, almost as if she were directly irritated at Hyunjin for letting that happen to her. (Except it wasn't something that she chose to happen.) "Which I'm still confused about. Because she shouldn't be able to unless you're a part of her, and last time I checked the only other people who are a part of her are three other deities."

"Like Olivia" is what she wanted to say, but the words were left hanging in the air. She hadn't said it, but Heejin could see them on the tip of her tongue.

"So then how was she able to control her?" Kim Lip asked, rubbing at her throat soothingly.

Hyejoo frowned. She genuinely looked confused, as if she had no idea what was going on, and that was probably the first time that Heejin had seen the slightest traces of panic behind her eyes as she wracked her brain to find a plausible answer to explain the phenomenon. For a high schooler, the girl was immensely powerful as well as intimidating; had she been at Heejin's school, she probably would have been one of those students that her friendship group would have made fun of for being so strange.

Beside Heejin, Yerim continued to fumble with the rag between her hands. Heejin could feel the amount of nerves radiating off of her in consistent waves with the way she refused to remain still, and had it been any other situation she would have mistaken it as excitement or perhaps a hyperactivity. Except they were discussing a serious topic, so there would be no reason for Yerim to be excited.

"A part of her..." Haseul joined the conversation despite her lower status as a human. None of the other people in the room interrupted her, however, which proved just how much she had established her place in the group of powerful figures despite her specie. "What does that mean, exactly?"

A gust of wind pushed into the room through the large, gaping hole made in the glass wall. The way that it danced through Hyejoo's hair and created flowing waves was cinematic in a way. Her teeth ran along her lower lip briefly, playing with it before releasing it and spinning around to find a new place to fix her dazed eyes. Along with the pensive look on her face (which, admittedly, was stunningly beautiful) was her attire that looked as if it had come out of the wardrobe of one of the anime characters in the animes that Heejin enjoyed watching in her spare time (one of her guilty pleasures).

Heejin honestly didn't understand how so many good looking people managed to gather in one group as if they were destined to be together, and at this rate she only expected to come across more people this way to make her feel even more insecure about herself.

"I don't know too well myself... Olivia doesn't want to explain it to me." Hyejoo admitted as if she were confessing a sin. As if she struggled to come to terms with her own short-comings. "But from what I've gathered from the... visions that I get, Gowon and Olivia used to be one being. Like- an entirely different entity with one mind and one body." She came to a standstill near the window, her hand resting absently on the pane that was still standing. "I'm guessing that Yves -- the deity that both Olivia and Gowon are looking for -- was also part of that entity, too."

"'Yves'." Jinsoul said. There was a dreadful look on her face as if she had seen a ghost. "You know Yves?"

Hyejoo turned to look at the blonde. "I don't know anything about her." She deadpanned with a blank face. "But Olivia does. And she doesn't want to give up until I help her find her for some reason."

"What if Hyunjin does have a part of her!"

Everyone turned to look at Haseul, who looked as if she just had a moment of 'eureka'. There was a slightly crazed smile on her face, though she quickly schooled it into a more serious expression considering the topic at hand.

When she scanned the confused (and slightly judgemental) looks she was receiving, she quickly scrambled to collect something from where Vivi had been resting against the wall. "No, I'm actually serious right now." A metallic suitcase was resting up against the wall, looking like a something one of the scientists that her father would meet once in a while. "A month or so ago, Hyunjin drank some untested blood -- which ended up with her becoming sick and almost dying." At her words, Jinsoul tensed up and turned to look at her suitcase more closely. "When I tested her blood, it didn't show the same patterns as Vivi's, which is a normal sanguisuge blood composition. Something in the blood that she drank must have changed her blood composition -- kind of like a venom that kind of just stays in your system."

"What does that have to do with Gowon?" Hyejoo asked, looking at Haseul as if she were crazy.

Huffing slightly under her breath, Haseul dropped the suitcase onto the coffee table and opened it. Inside it, a computer screen greeted her face, and Heejin immediately recognised it as one of the same models that the scientists from the government used. "Well, I didn't really remember who it was that donated the blood for me that day, but I have a habit of documenting names or at least some features to identify the donor for future purposes." The group of women began to gather behind Haseul, but Heejin remained in place beside Yerim who also preferred to keep her distance. "And looking back at my notes now, I remember what the donor looked like. Or, who the donor was."

She turned to look directly at Hyejoo.

"It was that girl -- the one serving as a host for Gowon."

"Chaewon?" Hyunjin leaned forward to look at the computer screen, concern marring her features. "Why would she be donating blood to you?"

Haseul bit her lip and shrugged. No one said a word as they let the tense silence settle over them, becoming this thick blanket that stifled the energy and began to drag down the momentum of the conversation. In it, the sound of the wind travelling through the night and the distant city sounds reached them.

"Unless she were planning something like this the whole time." Kim Lip said.

It was horrible to think about, especially since Heejin had interacted with Chaewon directly and would think of it as impossible for someone as shy and innocent as her to do something so vile. The more she thought about it, the more sick she thought herself to be because Chaewon had been nothing but pleasant to her, and the way she had struggled to even so much as look at her in the eye made it almost impossible for her to have tried to kill someone. But Heejin wasn't the only one who had considered the option, and it seemed as if the rest of the women silently agreed with what Kim Lip had said. 

"What? Chaewon?" Hyunjin, however, sounded incredulous to the possibility.

"Hyunjin, I know it's hard for you to believe, but you have to remember that she isn't what you thought she was." Kim Lip tried reasoning by reaching out to touch her shoulder, but the other girl simply pulled away from her.

She didn't say anything, but it was obvious from the conflicted expression on her face that she was beginning to at least consider the option.

"But why would she plan something like this?" Vivi leaned over Haseul to stop her from scrolling further, instead double tapping on something and zooming in on the information. "This looks far too complex to be planned out in a week's amount of time -- which is the time that Hyunjin had been turned."

Haseul squinted at the screen, leaning in closer to see the information clearly. "Hm... I don't think that I have the right computer with me." She said this as if it were an after thought, and she quickly looked over her shoulder to send a glance to Hyunjin who had been watching with a conflicted expression the entire time. "Hyunjin, do you still have the tablet that you borrowed from me the other day?"

Startling a little at being addressed, Hyunjin straightened her back and looked down at the older girl. For several moments, Heejin was able to look at Hyunjin's face in that familiar thoughtful expression that reminded her of simpler times: times when they would argue over who had more space in their shared desk, or times when during winter she would wake up with Hyunjin's blazer over her shoulders because she liked to forget hers in her locker. It made the faintest of smiles grow on Heejin's face despite the constant aching in her chest at being rejected continuously by Hyunjin. She understood that if she needed some space to recover after what happened, she should give it to her.

"I think it's still in my school bag..." Hyunjin's face fell when she realized something. "But I'm pretty sure that I lost it after last night."

"No, it's in my study." Jinsoul interrupted, pushing herself off of where she was resting her weight on the back of the couch beside Hyunjin. "Choerry brought your school bags with her when we came back."

At the mention of her name, Yerim jumped beside Heejin. Out of the corner of her eye, Heejin saw the other girl scramble to regain control of the rag that almost fell out of her grip from the surprise. She didn't think she'd ever seen her junior ever be so out of it -- she'd always seemed as if she were down to earth despite her habit of dreaming so high her head was in the clouds.

"Don't worry." Jinsoul briefly touched Hyunjin's shoulder to pacify her before heading off towards the study. Heejin noticed the way she held her elbow to support the weight of her arm on her shoulder, and the ever so slight limp in the way that she walked. Even her back -- which revealed her scarred shoulder blades -- was covered in bruises and scratches from the fight, and Heejin momentarily wondered if she should get those treated before they grew infected.

"So 'Kitten' drank Gowon's blood." Hyejoo stated, replacing Jinsoul's space so she could look at the screen too. When she read for the first couple of seconds, she immediately gave up with a confused scrunch of the nose and a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders as if to alleviate the pressure forming there. Hyunjin scowled at her at the mention of the nickname, and Heejin curiously watched the two in search for an explanation behind the meaning of it. "And in that way, Gowon was able to get into her mind and control her."

"That would explain why she's so strong." Vivi added, taking a seat beside Haseul and naturally sliding a hand onto her thigh. Her arm was bandaged up now, though there were specks of crimson staining through the white material like flecks of paint decorating a canvas, but despite that she still managed to move as if she were completely free of injury. "It's not natural for a newborn to be so strong. It would only make sense that all of the power comes from the deity venom."

As the women around the couch discussed the possible explanations, Heejin turned to look at Yerim.

The frown on her face had deepened, and now there were obvious lines distinguishing the sides of her mouth and between her eyebrows. Between her hands, the rag twisted and dripped from the force she was using to wring out the moisture.

"Are you okay?" Heejin delicately touched her fingertips to the inside of Yerim's wrist, feeling the tendons prominently standing to attention against her skin. At her touch, however, it relaxed and instead gave way for tremors to isolate the entirety of Yerim's hand. "You're shaking..."

Yerim hesitantly looked up from the space between her feet, slowly making sure to take in her features in excruciating detail. It made Heejin's skin rise in goosebumps from the intensity of it; it made her feel as if though she were about to die tomorrow and Yerim was just trying to remember what she looked like before she did so. But instead of letting it get to her, she returned the gaze as steadily as she could manage and allowed the other girl to steadily slide her hand into hers. When the pads of her fingers dug in between each of her hand tendons from the force that she was applying, Heejin returned it in a small squeeze.

She repeated the question again, though this time in a quieter voice as she grew wary of the other ears possibly listening into their conversation. Yerim didn't answer once more, but she shuffled closer to her so that their shoulders would be touching, also.

The brown in Yerim's irises appeared to be screaming at her -- as if they were trying to communicate something to her. Gradually, Heejin tried to read what she was trying to say more and more.

Like a cat in the night, Yerim's pupils widened hastily.

A whistling sound pierced through the moment, the high-pitched squeal cutting through the air and forcing it to give way by its abruptness. All conversation was drowned out, replaced entirely by the monotone pitch that grew and grew in time to the milliseconds that went by.

Heejin turned her head to look for its source. Only to be met by the tip of a blade breathing inches from her right eye.

A blade she had grown familiar with. One she had toyed with when her mind was conflicted and clouded with a million thoughts at once. One which had been handed down by her mother to her.

The silver blade she was instructed to keep with her at all times by her parents, and the one she had kept so loyally in her school backpack.

The dagger dropped to the floor in a loud clatter, though what caught her attention was the brash scream that erupted from Yerim's mouth.

With wide eyes, Heejin grabbed at Yerim's elbows to steady her flailing and helped fix her left hand in place.

Where Yerim's palm had once been smooth and soft to the touch, it now sizzled and hissed like bonfire crackling and spitting fire. The skin looked as if it had melted away and moulded onto layers at the rims of the wound to form bumps on her skin that resembled the bumpy surface of burnt skin. Flesh revealed by the open wound screamed a bright red color that almost stung at Heejin's eyeballs from the carnage that the contact with the blade had created, and she could almost see just how many layers of skin Yerim had burnt through when holding the sharp blade.

Had it not been for her, the silver dagger would have been sticking out of Heejin's eyeball that moment.

Which then led to the next problem.

"You."

If she had thought that Gowon had looked like a large light shining in the darkness, then Jinsoul was a burning flame ready to set the entire building alight.

Whereas Heejin would have been able to at least make out the blacks of Jinsoul's shaking pupils in the past, now all that was visible was the glaring neon azure literally gleaming onto the skin of her face. And just when Heejin thought that she was getting used to Jinsoul's intimidating presence, the vampire then had to throw a dagger right at her head to kill her.

Which then presented the main problem.

"Filius canis-" Jinsoul's voice almost shook the ground with the way she spat out the insult, making Heejin almost fall to her knees in surrender with the way the shout pierced her ears. If there were any way to define 'wrath', then Jinsoul would be the epitome of it.

Heejin blinked and all she could see was Jinsoul's face and feel hands trying to claw at her.

The only thing stopping her was a body, though the blonde seemed to be doing her best to try and land a hit on her.

"You traitorous bitch!" The screams were ear-piercing and shrill, sounding like a savage harpy. "You're fucking dead, es stercus!"

Heart in her throat, Heejin pressed herself further against the kitchen island to try and dodge one of Jinsoul's wild hits. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't gathered enough room and Jinsoul's nails managed to catch against the skin on her cheek, cutting in deep from the force and anchoring inside before ripping away like a wild animal.

Finally, Hyunjin managed to push Jinsoul at a distance far enough for her to be unable to land a hit on Heejin, who was speechlessly cradling her bleeding cheek.

When Hyunjin glanced back at her with concern marring her features, Heejin blankly stared back at her. She managed to catch the way brown gave way for yellow before the girl was whipping around to face her creator.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hyunjin shouted, pushing Jinsoul back by the shoulders strong enough for the blonde to have to stumble backwards to maintain her balance. She stopped her from getting to her once more by cushioning her against her, using her entire body to prevent the blonde from getting past to where Heejin stood wordlessly. "Are you crazy? Don't fucking touch her!"

"You ask this traitor yourself." Jinsoul growled, foam at the mouth and eyes glowing.

Shit.

"You have the audacity to walk into my home-" Jinsoul shoved Hyunjin aside. "-our home-" With one hand, she seized Heejin by the neck and pushed her into the air as if she were a bag of sand. "-and think you can do this? You think you can fucking do this to us?"

An uncomfortable feeling formed in Heejin's chest as she struggled to breathe, her hands clawing at Jinsoul's wrists desperately. She would have been able to notice the tears blurring her vision, had it not been for the way it was darkening at an alarming rate.

The pressure was alleviated when Jinsoul dropped her, letting her crumble to the floor with a hand supporting her to prevent her from crashing down completely.

Heejin wretchedly panted to regain her breath, though it sounded horribly ragged to her own ears as she did so.

Mockingly, right beneath her contorted face as she regained her vision once more, the silver blade glinted into her eyes with the light being shed by the lamps hanging in the kitchen. The silver blade that had once provided her comfort, but now served as evidence for her betrayal.

On her back, a hand rubbed soothing circles and out of her peripheral she saw Yerim's concerned face.

"Ask her! Fucking ask her, Hyunjin!" Jinsoul continued to scream, though this time she was releasing her frustrations out on a stubborn Hyunjin who refused to move out of the way. "Ask her why she has a fucking silver blade to kill us all whenever she pleases! Ask her why her parents drive a car with no license! Because if you don't then I'll make fucking sure she understands what the fires of hell feel like on human skin."

Of course. Of course it had to get out this way. Heejin had waited far too long to reveal the truth when she had had multiple chances to do so. All for what? For the right moment? For the best time to say, 'hey, I'm human bait so you can get kidnapped by my parents'?

She was pathetic.

The sight of the dagger was making her sick.

Heejin audibly gagged, curling in on herself as much as she could.

Her head was spinning gruesomely, the nausea swirling in her stomach encouraging her to empty out her entire stomach onto the wooden floorboards. Maybe then she'd be able to get rid of the harrowing feeling festering inside of her and poisoning her lungs. Maybe then she'd be able to get rid of the way burning tears fell from her eyes without any sense of control. Maybe then she'd be able to get rid of the voice repeatedly chanting in her head: 'you're pathetic, you're pathetic, you're pathetic'.

God, she couldn't do anything right.

"Heejin... Heejin-ah."

The voice sounded distant, as if her head were submerged underwater. Her chest heaved, shaking and trembling like the shockwave of an earthquake that had shaken up her entire world in one go. She could barely distinguish what was her hand and what was her elbow.

More muffled voices.

Her heart stopping. Then pumping. Then skipping. And then stopping again.

When her face was pulled up forcefully, she tried blinking through the black spots in her vision. She could just barely make out the familiar outline.

The kitchen light cast a halo around her head, illuminating the perfect waves of her hair as they fell down her shoulders in the natural way that she had always spent her days admiring instead of focussing on geometry in class. Warm brown eyes were like her safe haven, pulling her in closer and wrapping her into a loving space where she could just exist without worrying about anything else in the world. Each and every dip and rise of her face was like a journey that her eyes would take to distract themselves from the terrible things in the world, roving and stopping at each pit stop to appreciate the features. Soft lips mouthing her name, the way they shaped around the syllables and moved to produce her favorite sound in the world-

"Breathe with me. Breathe..." Hyunjin's forehead was resting against hers, but she could barely feel it.

Heejin could barely feel anything but the immense pain.

"Talk to me," Hyunjin said lightly, her hand moving around her face to wipe away the moisture.

Fuck, I don't deserve her.

"Tell her, you traitor!" Jinsoul continued to struggle against Vivi and Kim Lip, who watched on with deep frowns on their faces, but she wasn't as violent now. "Tell her what you've been hiding this entire time."

She could barely feel it when a sob wracked her body. Nothing was registering in her brain. It felt like a radio on the wrong frequency.

Hyunjin spared Jinsoul a glance, but when she looked back at her, it was full of affection and fondness. "Heejin-ah, it's not true." Her voice was calm, and she said it with so much certainty and trust that Heejin's heart managed to break under the pressure of such strong emotions. "It's not true, right? It's not true."

When all that Heejin did was stare back at her, Hyunjin's face slowly began to morph. It began to morph from something so warm and familiar into something cold and distant. Something that Heejin had never seen Hyunjin look like. Something that had never been directed at her.

"Is it true?" Hyunjin repeated, though this time her voice shook.

Pathetic.

"Is it true?" Hyunjin shook her.

Pathetic.

"Heejin! Is it true?"

"Yes."

Slowly, Hyunjin's hands fell from her face. All Heejin could do was watch as a multitude of expressions crossed Hyunjin's face, all of them ranging from disbelief to realization to sadness to hatred. Hatred for her. Hatred for her entire being. So much hatred that she could barely stand the sight of her.

Heejin desperately reached out for her once she began to realize what was happening. That her worst nightmare was coming true. That everything she had worried about and told herself she had to avoid was happening. "Hyun wait- I need to-" She hiccuped through her sentence, too many tears falling for her to control any of her words. "I need to explain-"

"Tie her up." Jinsoul's cold voice interrupted, her figure blocking her vision of Hyunjin's retreating form. "She doesn't leave the building."

-

Heejin's back had began to hurt in a way that she couldn't even begin to explain. The creeping tension had stemmed from her tailbone and had gradually clawed its way up her spin until is settled all the way into her neck, which hung limply. She had no remaining energy to try and keep her head up when she had wasted it all on sobbing until her throat hurt and trying to explain herself to Kim Lip, who had mercilessly watched her as if she weren't listening to anything she had to say. Which was reasonable, since it was pretty hard to believe anything coming out of her mouth when there was physical proof of her betrayal.

Kim Lip had disappeared behind the metallic double doors when Haseul had come upstairs to alert her of the syndicate's arrival, which they had been anticipating the entire evening now. So she wouldn't be a disturbance (because that was all she was now) they had moved her to one of the rooms upstairs, which she had never seen before during her time in the house.

It was vast, though seemed to be filled with scattered clothes on the floor and ruffled bed sheets that were both blue and yellow -- which she recognised as Hyunjin's own bed sheets from when they used to have sleepovers together. There were many items that reminded her of Hyunjin spread throughout the room, as if strategically placed there to make the inevitable guilt that had lodged itself within her chest stab deeper in between her ribs. For a moment, she felt jealous that Hyunjin obviously shared a sleeping space with another person, but then she was reminded of what had happened just hours earlier.

She had no right to feel jealous -- not when their relationship was reduced to nothing.

Hyunjin wanted nothing to do with her no matter how many times Heejin begged to see her, and even tried calling her name.

The last memory she had of Hyunjin -- imprinted fresh on the front of her brain -- was the hatred that she had regarded her with. As if she were the most vile thing she had ever seen in the world.

Despite having told herself she had no energy left, another sob tore through Heejin's body and made her convulse against the chair.

There was stinging in her cheek from where Jinsoul had cut with her fingernails, though the bleeding had fortunately stopped before she could begin to worry about losing too much. Her head continued to spin uncontrollably, and for the past couple of minutes she found herself fading in and out of consciousness.

She'd had a long day, and it was now late into the night. The bags under her eyes seemed to literally weigh down her eyelids, encouraging them to close over her eyes and let herself drift off into sleep. It was the logical side of her speaking when she told herself it was unhealthy to remain awake for so long, but somewhere deep inside of her she hoped that if she just went to sleep, she could wake up and everything would be back to normal again. She'd be able to walk into school and meet Hyunjin at their shared desk, and share an improvised breakfast with her before preparing to doze off during first period.

Her chest ached painfully.

Heejin would never be able to have that again.

The reality was that any sense of normalcy that she had possessed in her life had been ripped from her hands, and even if she never saw another vampire or demon or goddess again, she would never view the world the same way again.

A piece of her was ripped out from her entire being.

What would even be the purpose of proceeding with her journey when she knew exactly where it would end?

She had no purpose.

Just as Heejin had begun to drift off into dreamland, the metallic doors pushed open with a troublesome glint of the moonlight. No sound was made by the doors, but Heejin could hear the soft steps making their way into the room before the doors were closed once more with the softest of clicks.

Heejin almost jumped when she saw Yerim standing there instead of Kim Lip.

The moisture had left her mouth long ago, her cracking lips being proof of it. So when she tried to speak, all that came out was a pathetic croak and her tears managing to fall down harder again.

"I-I-I didn't want to do it..." She managed to choke out. Her entire body was shaking, a cold having taken over her limbs and riddled her almost entirely senseless from the the emotional beating she had dealt. "I promise Yerim-ah... I didn't want to..."

When Yerim's face melted into something other than that stoic expression that Kim Lip had also worn, relief flooded through Heejin's veins and allowed her body to relax against the chair. It showed that someone was willing to listen to her, and she would have to take up that opportunity like water in the desert. On top of that, the mercy that Yerim showed her by displaying pity and some kind of understanding was like the light at the end of the tunnel. If someone managed to believe what her true intentions were, then they would be able to convince the others to listen to her reasoning and then maybe Hyunjin would-

"Is it true?" Yerim asked, hesitantly approaching her. She wore a jacket over her school uniform, as if she were prepared to go outside.

Nothing came out of Heejin's mouth for a moment. She dreadfully waited for Yerim to spin around and leave her behind, but the girl just patiently waited for her answer. "Y-yes. But-"

"I understand." Yerim stood in front of her, looking down at her with saddened eyes. They were pained -- as if she were experiencing the same thing that Heejin was going through -- and it only made the trust that she had in her grow further at the feeling of having found someone that could relate to her. "It's not your fault."

A relieved, tearful sigh left Heejin as she leaned back against her chair. A laugh almost escaped her from the delirium it brought.

"But they think it is." Slowly, Yerim lowered into a crouching position in front of her and rested a hand on her knee. The contact was enough to calm the senseless beating inside of her rib cage. "And they're really mad at you right now." Heejin grimaced at the reminder. It felt like a knife was being repeatedly pulled out of her body and being stabbed right back in again. "But there's a way that you can make it up to them."

Heejin leaned forward at the mutual offer. Hope was beginning to brew in her chest, and she was almost blinded by it as she eagerly tugged against the ropes restraining her to the chair.

"Only if you're up for it, of course." Yerim said quietly, as if this were a secret between the two of them.

"I'd do anything." Heejin quickly rushed to assure, sounding pathetic and desperate all at once. But in that moment, she didn't care. "Whatever it takes to get her to forgive me."

For a few moments, Yerim stared blankly at Heejin. Her eyes glinted sadly under the white moonlight, momentarily overcome with a band of purple that washed over the irises eerily before dissolving back into that familiar brown. A small smile formed on her lips, and soon she was wearing that expression that Heejin had subconsciously found herself missing all this time. That same excited expression that was a tell-tale sign of trouble and fun ahead of them, and it made the eagerness inside of Heejin push through even more when she acknowledged it for what it was.

"Alright."

In the vast room overlooking the city from the mountain to the view down below, with the moonlight flooding through to illuminate a white light, all that was left behind was an empty chair.

And the traces of guilt still staining the air.


	20. twenty

Numbness.

As a form of coping, Hyunjin's brain had nullified any emotions that had surged through her at the realization to prevent from them completely drowning any last bits of her sanity. It was as if her mind had decided to just shut down any thoughts that scraped the calm surface that she had shrouded over herself afterwards, her thoughts now being just fleeting words swimming across the boiling pot that was her head. In a way, however, she found herself being grateful because god knew that if she allowed herself to feel even the slightest slimmer of emotion then it would destroy her.

And that was not what she needed to be worrying about right now when the syndicate were standing right in the living room of her home.

"Master Jinsoul."

Hyunjin didn't know what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't a twelve-year-old boy who looked like he barely had any flesh on his bones due to how slim his was. The expensive, professional suit draped on his prepubescent body was almost a ridicule considering the fact that he looked like he could easily be Hyunjin's younger brother. His angular, monolid eyes glinted a powerful red as he condescendingly regarded Jinsoul. The confidently taunting grin that parted his thin, reddish lips to reveal the dangerous fangs looked wrong on such an immature face, because only a smile like that was able to present such menace and promise of something much, much worse.

"Or should I say, just Jinsoul now." Hyunjin could see the hatred he held for her creator in the simple way he smirked as if he derived pleasure from making the blonde uncomfortable. "I can't say it is a pleasure to see you again after all these years... I hoped you would stay in the dirt where you belong for a little longer,"

She shifted her weight when she heard the threat in the boy's voice. She may not be fully aware of what Jinsoul's involvement with the syndicate was, but she was not going to let anyone threaten her creator.

Any kind of thought she had of helping her, however, was quickly stifled by the other members of the syndicate who glared at her with a ferocity that stilled her movements. Two tall men flanked the small boy; one was as lanky and thin as the boy himself though was able to be distinguished by the scar running down his face, whereas the other was muscular and built like a body-builder with the intensity of a bodyguard. Both had serious expressions on their faces, but didn't look nearly as vengeful as what appeared to be their leader.

"Always a delight to see you, Chiwon." Jinsoul shrugged her jacket back onto her frame, fortunately hiding the wounds marking her back from the group of sanguisuge. Hyunjin was aware that any form of weakness was easily exploited in the world of politics. "Though it is a surprise to see you wearing something other than those rags you donned in 19'."

Had Hyunjin not spent the past numerous weeks consistently alongside Jinsoul, she would have been deceived by the air of conviction she was radiating.

Maybe it was because she had grown accustomed to the woman's behavioral patterns, or because they were tethered to one another because she was her creator, but she was able to feel just how anxious Jinsoul was in that moment. She could still hear her voice recounting stories of the syndicate's harsh, merciless punishment. She could still remember waking up to a writhing Jinsoul in the middle of the night and coaxing her out of the nightmares plagued with her memories of the hole she had been in underground. She could still feel the light on her eyelids when she went to sleep every night to help Jinsoul understand that she wasn't in that dark, torturous cell that had imprisoned her for decades. She could still see the trauma on Jinsoul's panicked face when she woke herself up because Hyunjin wasn't in her reach for her to confirm that she wasn't alone.

Jinsoul was terrified of the dark, and of closed spaces, and of the underground.

It only made sense that she would be terrified of the syndicate when they were the ones who put her there in the first place.

Chiwon's face twitched in irritation at Jinsoul's remark. He stared at her for a long, quiet while, before he weightlessly moved towards one of the still assembled chairs. "I suggest you watch your tongue. You are in a quite unfortunate situation that could lead to a worse punishment than the one you received last time... if I were you, I would play my cards close to my chest." His eyes glinted dangerously at the blonde, a smirk on his face. "And you should refer to me as Lord from now on."

"Ah, so the Elders have decided you are not too worthless, then." Jinsoul remarked, also nonchalantly coming to a stand beside Hyunjin.

As best as she could, Hyunjin tried to exude an aura that would be calming for Jinsoul. It was a skill that the blonde had been trying to teach her that went along with influencing human's ability to choose for themselves.

"That must be her, then." Hyunjin's eyes rose from where they were aimlessly staring at her feet. Chiwon was boring his red eyes into her in a way that looked far too indictable and wrong on such a young person -- as if she were some sexual object for his own pure amusement. "May I say, Master Jinsoul, you seem to have a type for your victims." Hyunjin held herself from shivering in disgust when his tongue ran along his fangs. "Your last one looked similar to this one, too."

The men standing beside him took a step towards her. The muscular one curiously looked at her, as if she were another specie he had just encountered and was completely fascinated. Hyunjin would have thought of him as somewhat harmless and amicable if it weren't for the eerily dark expression on his partner's face, who's vision was impaired due to the scar that ran over his closed eye. Behind them were several other sanguisuge who appeared to be simply amazed by the situation. (She even caught one of them ogling at Jinsoul as if she were a celebrity -- which, considering the fact that she had apparently been the one responsible for creating the syndicate made sense.)

Feeling threatened, Hyunjin purposefully let her vision tint yellow. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest at the thought of being captured by them. She didn't want to be put underground like what happened to Jinsoul.

When she allowed for that to happen, the one-eyed man froze in his place and squinted his functioning eye at her. "You are... sanguisuge?" His pronunciation was off, as if he were from another country.

"The one responsible for the murder of that human, Thanh." Chiwon stood from the chair and lazily walked to where they were standing, his size dwarfed in comparison to his two accomplices. "We're here to arrest her?"

"You're not arresting anyone." Jinsoul protectively intercepted, coming to stand slightly in front of Hyunjin. (Hyunjin swore she saw one or two of the sanguisuge watching at the back swoon at the blonde's actions as if they were watching a weekly drama and Jinsoul were the main character, which only confused her more as to what other sanguisuges perception of Jinsoul was.) "She's innocent, and she didn't touch any human."

Chiwon amusedly watched her as if he didn't believe a word she was saying. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his trousers and his hair boyishly fell over his forehead, though that didn't stop the malicious smirk that inevitably formed on his lips. "Right..." As if he were just discussing the scores of a soccer game, he carelessly walked towards the aquarium and observed how the water bubbled. With an entertained flash of his fangs, he turned to look over his shoulder and up at Jinsoul who stood poised and tense. "Well, that's not what the evidence that you provided for us said." When Jinsoul didn't do anything to dispute his claim, he continued with a glance behind them. "Which reminds me. Where exactly did you get this evidence from?"

Hyunjin glared at the small boy. She had already been irked by the way Hyejoo conducted herself as if she owned the place without a shred of humility in the way she behaved, but now that a nimble, twelve-year-old boy had allowed himself into the house she considered her home and was behaving the exact same way, it made her livid. She detested the way he talked as if he were right.

More seconds went by and his question continued to go unanswered.

Agitatedly, Hyunjin glanced at Jinsoul. She would have expected the blonde to have answered just as confidently as she was talking -- to give one of her sarcastic replies that would help assert her dominance over the situation. But all that was shown on her pale face was a blank look.

Jinsoul had been cornered.

Chiwon exaggeratedly puffed his chest out as he took in a big breath, inhaling through his nose and closing his eyes. When he reopened them, there was a hungry glint in the bloody red of his eyes. "Ohoh... a human!"

Hyunjin's whole body tensed. She desperately cared for Haseul and her well-being -- the woman had been nothing but pleasant to her all this time and had treated her like one of her own. But among all the chaos of... Heejin and the syndicate storming in as if it were their palace, she had forgotten the one law that had kept her from telling Heejin the truth in the beginning.

"And she knows about sanguisuge!" Chiwon's loud, squeaky voice irritably cut through Hyunjin's ears as he laughed from his chest. "How rich. Just how many of your laws have you managed to break?"

In a second, Chiwon had disappeared from in front of them and then reappeared. This time with Haseul's arm forcefully in his grip and his grinning mouth next to her neck as if prepared to bite.

Hyunjin reflexively lunged forward but was held back by the tall muscular man.

Haseul ripped her arm from his intentionally weak grip, a look of disgust on her face to disguise the fear that had overcome her entire body. Chiwon released her without a struggle, though he was laughing as if he had just pulled the funniest joke ever despite the lack of smiles on everyone's faces. "Unless this has something to do with Master Viian?" He glowered at Vivi who had reacted the most violently and was currently being restrained by another sanguisuge man.

This was bad. Hyunjin knew that Vivi was technically responsible for Haseul's knowledge about the sanguisuges -- in fact, she had been actively supporting and providing for her research into the sanguisuges. Haseul probably knew more about them than the sanguisuges did themselves, and if anyone found out then that would be a large enough motive for both her and Vivi to be punished severely for their crime. It would mean that Vivi would have broken the law stating that humans were not allowed to know anything about the sanguisuge, and would most likely receive a punishment similar to the one Jinsoul had suffered last time. As for Haseul...

They were just lucky that Hyejoo had left soon after the incident with Heejin happened.

"This has nothing to do with Viian." Jinsoul hissed, taking a step towards Chiwon. She was taller than the boy and glared down at him with a chilling stare, but that was not the reason why he momentarily cowered as if he were facing off his worst nightmare. "This has nothing to do with anyone but me, so I suggest you back down, Chiwon."

Despite the momentary crack in his facade, the boy cackled under his breath and shoved his hands back inside of his pockets casually. Hyunjin could see in the way his eyes danced around Jinsoul's entire appearance that he was extremely entertained by the situation, and that he didn't believe a thing coming out of Jinsoul's mouth. Yet he still said, "alright. Then I suggest we discuss the following details to decide the repercussions to your actions." There was an evil spark to his grin that didn't sit well in Hyunjin's stomach, her insides toiling uncomfortably. "Which, I am assuming, you take full responsibility for?"

Hyunjin's eyes widened. She looked at Jinsoul, who refused to acknowledge her presence in that moment. Both of them knew that whatever Chiwon was planning wouldn't be good, and judging from the hatred that he held for Jinsoul he would do everything in his power to make sure that his greed was satiated. And the nature of the syndicate was nothing but merciless and unsparing.

"Yes." Jinsoul challengingly stared back at Chiwon, who's grin only widened at her voice. "It's my responsibility."

-

Hyunjin had been nothing but restless since Jinsoul and Jungeun had begun the meeting with the syndicate.

The demon had been surprisingly familiar with a lot of the members of the syndicate, who had regarded her with surprise at first, but then with a respect that was almost on par with the one they treated Jinsoul with. No matter how much Chiwon seemed to want to squash any dignity that Jinsoul had for herself, it seemed that the other sanguisuge were too star struck by the blonde to follow his lead.

"Calm down." Vivi said, still shifting about uncomfortably from her place by the window, her thumbs twiddling together as she debated whether to call Haseul that moment or not. She had forced the human to leave and go back home to Yeojin since she wouldn't be safe in a house full of vampires that could easily make her disappear as if she had never existed in the first place, but ever since she disappeared from her sight she would refuse to sit still. And it would have unnerved Hyunjin if she didn't feel the same, too.

Hyunjin's heart was aching in her chest. She was thinking over and over as to why Heejin would want to betray her and none of it was coming together.

This past week had been one of the best in her life, and she had managed to find happiness out of a situation she had seen as the end of her demise. Even more so than before, Heejin had established herself in her heart as the source of most of her happiness and motivation, and she had promised to herself that she would do anything in her power to keep that from changing. But she never expected that the obstacle placed right in the middle of her promise would come straight from Heejin herself; that she would be the one who challenged her commitment to her feelings. And that was probably worse than knowing it in the first place.

Why would she want to kill them? Heejin had never been a very vengeful person. In fact, she forgave far too easily for her own good and she understood people's situations even if they were the most morally skewed of situations.

It would make no sense for her to lie so convincingly.

Or maybe that was just Hyunjin trying to convince herself that when Heejin had said she loved her, she had trully meant it.

"Jinsoul will be okay," Vivi said, staring outside of the window wistfully. At this point, she had repeated that phrase so many times that Hyunjin knew she was saying it to convince herself. "She's walked through hell and she's still an asshole- you don't need to worry about her."

Hyunjin let herself smile slightly at that, but it was quickly overpowered by the growing anxiety in the pit of her stomach. "Heejin..." Her throat closed up when she tried to speak, and she grew momentarily frustrated at herself for letting her body react so negatively to the girl that she still loved after everything. When she uttered the name, Vivi looked up from the black phone screen and regarded her with a sympathetic and pitiful glance that made her feel like something should be terribly wrong with the situation. Even when she was trying to convince herself that everything was fine. "She's still upstairs. But she's a human and... and what if the syndicate find out? And then they'll... they'll..."

She was sitting there, in that big room all by herself. Tied up. Probably thinking that Hyunjin wanted her gone.

But isn't that what Hyunjin should be thinking? After Heejin had brought a silver dagger that was intended for killing sanguisuge specifically into her home, and confessing that she was indeed the traitor that had infiltrated their group, shouldn't it be most logical that Hyunjin wanted nothing to do with her anymore?

Yet she can't get the image of Heejin crying out of her head. The way she had struggled so hard to breathe. To even get her words out properly. And she said that she had wanted to explain herself, which meant that the likeliness that there was a sane explanation for everything was pretty high. An explanation that would help her understand exactly what was going through Heejin's mind when she thought it was a good idea to carry such a dangerous weapon with her.

After all, when she was being suspected for being a murderer, she had stuck by her side and believed that she hadn't done it.

Hyunjin bit her lips, guiltily running a hand through her hair.

"Hyunjin, she was carrying silver-"

"No, there has to be something more." Hyunjin realized, beginning to move towards the door of the room they were in. "I'm going to go talk to her."

Vivi abruptly stood from her place at the window, the look of warm pity manifesting into mild panic and confusion. "I don't think that's a very good idea," she said as she tried approaching Hyunjin with three big strides, but Hyunjin was already pulling the door open with her eyes set on the stairs. "We don't know any details about her betrayal, and the conditions of your relationship with her will make it easier for her to target-"

"What would you do if it were Haseul?" Hyunjin tugged the hand that had been clasped by Vivi back towards her body, the rush of adrenaline making her movements jittery and snappish. She knew that it was wrong to use Haseul as a weak spot for Vivi, but the more she thought about it the more her heart hurt, and deep down she knew that the only thing that would be able to at least soothe the pain a little would be to talk to the source of it. "She may be a traitor, but she is still good." The more she repeated it to herself, the more it began to make sense in her mind. "She was good to me- good for me."

Dejectedly, Vivi took a step back from her. On her face was a battle of conflicting emotions, and Hyunjin couldn't help but to feel sorry that she had been tasked the mission of keeping her away from Heejin. But the hesitation was only a window for her to actually go upstairs, so she took it and began climbing up the stairs.

With each beat of her heart, Hyunjin's thoughts swarmed closer to her consciousness.

A part of her desperately wanted to hate Heejin for what she had done. She wanted to blame her for being the cause of her pain and confusion, and the way her heart broke a little when Heejin admitted that she was the traitor that Gowon had been talking about. It would facilitate the process of trying to understand the last several hours' events and clear up what her emotions towards Heejin should be.

But something in her told her to have hope. Hope that Heejin would have an explanation for her behavior that would make sense so then she would be able to forgive her without any remorse. That maybe she should take a page from Heejin's book and try to learn to forgive people better so that she would be able to move on from the grief the situation caused her.

What should she say to her? What would she ask?

The thought of being distant when she would be literally a couple of feet away from her made everything much worse, but she knew that it was necessary. Tying her up was necessary.

Exhaling noisily, Hyunjin gathered whatever strength she had left inside of her. She had never found it easy to push Heejin away when there was no need for her to do so and despite not being responsive to the girl's actions, she had always appreciated her presence at her side. It was comforting and reassuring and always told her that she would never leave her side because they were each other's 'people'. No matter what had happened, they always pulled through and managed to come back to one another. She just prayed that this was one of those situations.

"Heejin, I-"

Her heavily hand slipped from the door handle. The words grew to big and burdensome in her throat so they lodged themselves there, blocking her airway and cutting any sound being produced. Her pounding heart skittered to a stop as her chest stopped moving in time of her breathing.

Somewhere in the house, what should be the garage two floors down from where Hyunjin was, an engine roared to life. The small screech of tyres against concrete gave away the identity of the vehicle: a motorcycle.

The empty chair sat in the middle of the room, rope pooled at the bottom, mockingly greeted her.

-

Swiftly, Yerim dismounted the motorcycle once she had parked it in an underground parking lot. She had driven them to the heart of the city at a speed that should have been illegal, almost as if she were desperate to get away from Jinsoul's house as if it were catching fire. They were in the area where the high-pricing apartments were located alongside millionaire companies, and briefly Heejin wondered what the were doing in such an expensive area before she realized that vampires seemed to have a lot of money. But that did nothing to explain why none of the parking spaces seemed to be occupied by any cars, considering the fact that any civilian would kill for a parking space in the center of the city.

She was still a little dazed by the series of events that had taken place. The feeling of the rope tightly hugging at her wrists and ankles was still there, like a haunting nightmare refusing to let her forget how she had been identified as a traitor. Along with the sensation was the visual proof that she had been tied up: as if she were wearing bracelets, her flesh screamed out an unnatural red as specks of blood dared to pepper the surface of her skin from how the rough material of the rope had rubbed against it.

"We're here." Yerim steadied the bike with her hands on either side of Heejin, avoiding her eyes as she instead looked at the helmet firmly placed on her head.

Heejin had appreciated it when Yerim had put the helmet on her head, telling her that she should stay safe and it wasn't up for discussion. Nonetheless, Heejin had worried for the other girl because at the speed they were going at, a crash would have been lethal to her due to the lack of protection on her own head. Fortunately, Yerim was surprisingly a skilled driver on the streets and she had maneuvered the motorcycle as if it were another part of her body. (It didn't stop the way her hair now looked like it was tangled in painful knots that resembled a lion's mane.)

Carefully, Yerim unbuckled the straps softly digging into the bottom of her jaw, wary of hurting her at any point. After everything that had happened, Heejin didn't mind being babied by who she viewed as her little sister.

The helmet had come off of her head, but Heejin hadn't really registered it. She just sat there, staring blankly at Yerim as she hung it on the motorcycle handles.

When she didn't move, Yerim finally cast her a glance.

Yerim sighed, warmly wiping away the tears staining her cheeks with the back of her forefinger. The frown on her face formed worried creases in her features as she continued to cup her face when the tears refused to stop coming out, constantly smudging the tear tracks with the pads of her thumbs. Heejin hadn't even realised that she was crying, she had just been sitting there trying to think about anything that would help Hyunjin forgive her for what she had done. But the collar of her shirt was wet with moisture, meaning she likely hadn't stopped since they left the house.

Shakily, Heejin took in a big breath. It would be alright now, however, because Yerim had a solution that would get her out of the ditch she had fallen into.

For a moment, she allowed relief to replace the immense amount of guilt that had been monstrously clawing at her back and let the burden lift off of her shoulders. Everything would be okay, she told herself.

"Ye-Yerim..." Her lower lip quivered and she frustratedly trapped it between her teeth.

Said girl's face completely crumbled at her broken voice crack. When Heejin weakly opened her arms, tears streaming down her face and nose red from all her crying, Yerim gulped and hesitantly stepped into them. Heejin tightened the grip her hands had on the back of the girl's shirt, pulling her despairingly closer to her. The warmth exerted from her soft body allowed her the smallest flicker of comfort, so she buried herself further into it and allowed her eyes to close for the slightest of seconds. Even if it wasn't the arms that she truly wanted around her, she still appreciated the way they wrapped around her waist as if they were afraid she would fall apart without the correct application of pressure.

When Heejin thought she felt Yerim's torso shaking, the latter pulled away from her and gave her a weak yet reassuring smile. "Is that better?"

With a forced chuckle, Heejin let Yerim step out of her hold and harshly wiped at the tears with the insides of her wrists. "Yeah," she lied, taming her likely wild hair. "Thank you, I needed that."

Yerim gave her a tight-lipped smile before stretching her hand out to her, which she took gratefully to help her hop down from the back of the motorcycle. 

The ceiling was tall for an underground parking lot, but she wouldn't have expected any less when it came to people who had the money to be able to build infrastructures like these. Multiple, thick concrete columns supported the weight of the tall, modern building that she had seen above ground, and the entrance that they had taken into the parking lot had already closed behind them with a firm bang. A suspenseful atmosphere made itself present in the musty air, sending little shockwaves of electricity running up the length of Heejin's exposed arms like dainty fingers tracing her skin.

"We're going to wait here for a while." Yerim gave a gentle smile, reaching out and patting the top of her head caringly. Never mind how her own hair looked as if it had just been whipped up by a typhoon.

Heejin wondered if they would have realized that she was gone by now. She wondered if Hyunjin would even care to see her gone from her sight -- surely she was just a pain in the ass for everyone. After all, she was just a human who decided it would be a good idea to meddle in things far too big for her and lacking the abilities to even handle herself in situations that she shouldn't be involved with.

She wished that she were something more. Something that wasn't a powerless, weak teenage girl who just barely knew how to use a dagger. Something that would help her belong with Hyunjin.

Looking at Yerim, she could see the cliche paleness to her skin under the pale white lights illuminating the empty parking lot. Even if she always thought of Yerim as her younger sister now that she thought about it the other girl was likely far more older than she was, so there was no point of her referring to her as 'unnie' when that was a known fact. That meant that it was true that vampires lived far more longer than humans did, meaning that even if Yerim continued to live in the body of a seventeen-year-old girl Heejin's body would be decomposing in a coffin six feet underground.

Abruptly, Yerim began to shuffle with her clothing. If Heejin was reading her expression correctly, she appeared to be growing more nervous as the seconds went by. Which made no sense to Heejin since she was the one who was entrusting her safety into the girl's hands, and if she was feeling anxious about something then it only made sense that she should begin to grow worried. Of course, Yerim wouldn't put her into a dangerous situation like that, though.

"Jeon Heejin?"

Heejin jumped at the sound of the familiar voice. Her memories immediately took her to last year's classroom where she sat in the center of the room, diagonal to Hyunjin's slouched form as she immersed herself in the work they had been handed. They took her to tense parent-teacher meetings where her strict mother would sit beside her, disappointment oozing from her poised posture and stern face, as they over-looked that term's grades. They took her to shy introductions to a new student who required help showing around, and entrusting her with the responsibility of introducing their school to the young girl.

She had almost forgotten about her life in the time she had spent stressing over vampires and demons and deities.

"What brings you here?" Choi, her old homeroom teacher, hesitantly walked towards them with his hands in his trouser pockets as always. He was dressed in casual attire, one that she had never seen him wear due to his professional work clothes for teaching, but it seemed to suit him well. His voice was wary, and perhaps a little concerned as he took in her broken appearance.

Heejin urgently looked at Yerim, who was still rubbing at the fabric of her shirt between her fingers but wore a respectful smile. Almost as if she had intended to meet the teacher this late at night. If she hadn't known any better, Heejin would have assumed that something terribly wrong was happening between the two that would likely raise every single hair on her body. But Yerim was a vampire and she knew very well how to handle herself, so it certainly wasn't something that she was forced into doing.

Moreover, why would she be taking her to a teacher when they were running from something this serious? Yerim wasn't seriously gullible enough to believe that 'an adult's help was the best help' in a situation like this, right?

"I-I... Hello, Choi-seongsaengnim." Heejin bowed respectfully, though it didn't stop the frown from forming on her face.

"I brought her along with me." Yerim said, clasping her hands in front of her. There was a peaceful look on her face, though Heejin had seen the way her emotions had progressed so she didn't believe the facade for one second. "I hope that's alright?"

Choi blinked in surprise, glancing between the two of them warily. "As long as her parents know that she'll be staying with us," he laughed sheepishly, his hand coming up to rub at his nape.

'Us'? Panic was beginning to build up inside of Heejin. What on earth was Yerim talking about? No way was it what she was thinking it was, right? Yerim couldn't be living with a teacher, that was wrong. Even if she was older than what her appearance implied, then that would have to mean that Choi knew that she was a vampire, and that was impossible too. Which meant that the one in the wrong had to have been Choi for allowing this sort of relationship carry out with a student who was supposedly sixteen.

"I don't think her parents know, right Heejin?" Yerim looked at her with a serious expression, her eyebrows raised as if she expected to go along with the lie. Except Heejin wasn't aware of what lie they were trying to pull off -- she wasn't aware of what was going on with anything anymore.

"Uhm... haha..." Heejin crossed her arms subconsciously, eyes darting between Yerim's unreadable expression and Choi's amicable, questioning one. "I'm sorry, but... what's going on?"

For a moment, complete and utter surprise passed across Choi's face, before it soothed into bright laughter that immediately lightened the atmosphere. Amusement creased the corners of his eyes as he grinned at her, small chuckles bubbling from his chest as he lightly shook his head in disbelief. "I'm so sorry, Heejin, you must have been so startled," he said with mirth tainting his voice. "Yerim must have not told you -- I can't imagine what things you must have been thinking of us all of this time... Yerim is my daughter."

Oh.

Heejin blinked.

Oh...

Red flooded her face as she realized what was happening and she forced a laugh. Her emotions were all over the place, and she was getting to the point where she just wanted to find a comfortable place to lie down and go to sleep. Now she had to face the mortification of having made the worst assumption possible about one of her favorite teachers.

"I am so sorry about that, I-I don't know what I was thinking." Heejin slid a hand over her eyes, trying to rid them of the sudden drowsiness she was feeling.

"That's alright, it looks like you've had a long day." Choi smiled kindly, beginning to walk backwards towards a pale green door. Yerim followed after him, so Heejin assumed she should be doing the same. "You should call your parents to tell them your staying over, I don't want them worrying about you."

Heejin gulped at the thought of her parents.

She hadn't answered their last text message, which was them telling her that she should carry out the mission that they had entrusted her with. Moreover, now that she thought about it she hadn't been receiving any messages from them and that was probably because she left her phone at Jinsoul's house on the coffee table. Chances that they would be angry with her were high -- no, more like infuriated. It was past her curfew and they would know that she wasn't back by now because they usually returned at eleven every night. She had never missed a curfew before.

"Uhm... yes, I should." Heejin anxiously stepped through the door that Choi held open for the both of them. "I don't really have my phone with me, though?" She wetted her lips, looking absently at how Yerim automatically called for an elevator like she had been here countless of times. "Is it alright if I borrow yours?"

Choi frowned out of concern, looking down at her with fatherly worry. "Heejin, I know that it always feels awkward when a teacher asks you this, but are you feeling okay?"

It was always like this when someone asked about her condition when it wasn't the best. Like every effort she had spent trying to convince herself that she was fine and that whatever had happened hadn't been that bad didn't even matter anymore. Because a question like that was like the key that would unlock all of the emotions she was harboring inside of her, and it just made the situation more real than what she had been trying to make it out to be. It was almost like someone cared about her well being. And all that lended itself to was breaking whatever resolve she had left and tears begin to threaten to fall from her eyes as a display of her weakness.

Fortunately for her, the elevator happened to arrive at that time and it served enough as a distraction for her to quickly blink away any moisture from her eyes. When Choi looked back at her, she managed to give a shaky smile and assure that she was fine.

"I wasn't sure what time you would be back, but there are some leftovers in the fridge for you." Choi spoke nonchalantly to Yerim, looking down at her with an affectionate look.

Yerim hesitated. "You didn't have to, I already ate."

With a sigh, Choi shook his head in a reprimanding manner. "You're always out there doing your own thing. Your old man is starting to feel a little neglected, Yerim-ah."

The elevator was spacious for an apartment building in the middle of the city, the clean mirrors being lit up with warm orange and yellow lights that made her reflection look almost cinematic. When Choi pressed one of the circular buttons, Heejin was able to see that there were around thirty floors to the building, making it the highest building she had ever been in ever since she went to Shanghai for her parents' trip when she was five. And the number he pressed was floor below the roof, meaning that they were about to go to the highest point.

"So where have you been off to so late at night?" Choi leaned against the elevator wall, crossing his arms as if he were awaiting an entertaining story. The amused expression on his face was open and friendly, and it almost made Heejin want to smile.

"We were... studying." Yerim tugged at the bottom of her shirt, her gaze fixated solely on the small opening in elevator doors that glowed a white light every once in a while. The expression she had on her face was almost sinister as her posture remained tense, almost as if she were waiting for her father to catch her out on her lie and scold her. "It's easy to lose track of time when you're in company."

Choi sighed, the look of dejection on his face making Heejin's heart ache a little. (Somewhere inside of her, a little girl yearned for her father to care enough about her to give the time of day to worry for her.) "I understand that you're young, but your sister made it back home." His face darkened as he said that, though it looked a little sad as he admitted his thoughts. "Even if she was a bit tattered and bruised... what have I told you two about walking home together?"

Heejin glanced at Yerim, but saw that her face was stone.

"Is that why Kim Lip left early?" Heejin asked, wondering if she would have to see the brunette's face again.

After what had happened with Jinsoul discovering the silver dagger and literally trying to murder her with it, she thought that it was only reasonable for Kim Lip to side with the woman that she loved. There had been mentions of the syndicate arriving and Kim Lip having to attend the meeting alongside Jinsoul, so that's what she thought the demon was doing this whole time while Yerim drove her away and to safety. But hearing that she had arrived at home was slightly confusing. The description of her wounds matched her haggard appearance, so it would only make sense for Choi to be talking about her. After all, Yerim had never mentioned having any other sibling, only that Kim Lip was her guardian who looked after her...

But then that wouldn't make sense for them to have an older guardian like Choi, because Kim Lip had been the one who attended all her parent-teacher conferences and dealt with any issues that the school had with Yerim.

Unless there were some complicated family relations between the three that made Yerim want to hide the fact that Choi was her father, which would make sense considering the fact that there had been rumors going around that he had a child that was the same age as them but had never disclosed their identity. To think that after all of this time, the child he had been talking about was Yerim was more than a little surprising, but then again he had been the one who introduced her to her to show her around. Perhaps he had just wanted his daughter to be safe while she was new to the school.

Taking his precaution for Yerim's safety into consideration, Heejin wondered how he would react when he found out that his daughter was a vampire.

Oh. Wait.

Yerim was a vampire. And it had already been established that she was far older than what she was letting on.

And Kim Lip was a demon. Which made them completely different specie and almost impossible for them to be related to one another, meaning that they weren't truly sisters as Yerim had said they were.

Then did that mean...

"Appa, I completed the assignment you gave us the other day." Yerim said, a tight-lipped smile on her face as she finally looked at Choi.

Heejin's heart pounded away in her chest as her blood ran cold in her veins. A cold, chilling sensation washed over her and began to freeze her entire body, almost rendering her immobile if it weren't for the way she slowly looked at Choi.

"Really? Which one was it?" Choi asked, curiosity glinting in his eye. An expression that Heejin would have seen as warm and welcoming suddenly became sinister.

"Phase Two."

At the sound of Yerim's reluctant, strained voice, Choi's fatherly brown eyes snapped towards Heejin. The innocent expression remained on his face as his eyes scanned Heejin's expression as if he were searching for something in particular, and when he found it his brow furrowed. Even as Heejin began to stagger away from him, she was sandwiched between him and Yerim, who remained unmoving even when she bumped into her in her increasing panic. Warmth exuded from her body and into her back, though now that Choi was staring at her with a sickening pity and sympathy it wasn't as comforting as it had been earlier. In fact, Heejin's first instinct was to get away from her.

"Ah, Jeon Heejin..." Disappointment laced his voice, regret displayed all over his body as he allowed his shoulders to slouch. "It's a shame you became tangled in all of this." He stepped closer to her and she nervously tried moving away from Yerim, who was proving to be a barrier. "But it was inevitable with your parents' line of profession... I should have anticipated something like this would occur."

"Who- who are you really?" Heejin snapped. The walls of the elevator were closing in around her. She really had no way out.

Choi wasn't Yerim's father. He had never been. It was impossible because she had probably been alive longer than he had -- unless he too was some supernatural being that excused the law of aging.

"I'm Choi Chanwoo, Heejin-ah," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, backing her until she was pressed up against the elevator mirror. "I'm your trusted homeroom teacher. Just as I've always been."

Heejin's eyes widened in terror. She was only beginning to see him for how he truly was now that the adrenaline had kicked in again, waking up whatever part of her had been trying to doze off. There was something off in the way he called her name so affectionately. In the past, Heejin wouldn't have thought anything of it. She would have assumed it was just her teacher being one of the only teachers who actually cared about his students' well being and was actually a decent human being. But the amount of sorrow in his voice that he held (for me, she realized) was wrong. His nice expression was wrong. His concerned warm eyes were wrong. His regretful sigh was wrong.

"Yerim, calm her down."

That sounded wrong.

Feeling that that was just a euphemism for something much worse, Heejin lunged out and punched at Choi's unsuspecting throat. It had worked well enough with Hyunjin, now she just hoped that it would do the same to get her out of this situation.

The man staggered backwards, his hands at his throat and a grimace on his face as he choked for air. Seeing the way his once pitiful facade melted into anger and irritation made the hairs on the back of Heejin's neck rise. A growl rose out of his strained throat, the saliva gurgling in his mouth audible in the spacious elevator. It sent shivers crawling down Heejin's spine as she gaped at him, the whites of his eyes becoming red from the way they were trying to bulge out of his head.

Heejin rushed to the buttons panel and tried pressing the red button that screamed 'emergency'. (This was most definitely an emergency.) When nothing happened, she only hit it again, and again, and again.

"Yerim, I said calm her down." Choi repeated, but that was the last of Heejin's worries as she desperately looked at the blinking numbers. 

They were almost at the desired floor.

Purely out of instinct, Heejin whipped around. She was not going to allow that man capture her and take advantage of the situation. So instead, she tried replicating one of the moves from the fight scenes in the American movies and lifted her elbow, only to bring it crashing down on Choi's slouched back.

He groaned in pain as he collapsed to the floor, the elevator doors opening in time with his fall.

Without thinking, Heejin rushed out of the doors and expected to find a hallway. Instead, she found herself in a bare, empty room that was not too dissimilar to the parking lot underground, except the walls were replaced with tall windows that gave view to the night city. Nothing was furnished -- not the floors, not the walls, not the ceiling.

The floor looked unfinished.

Except for some material further off into the distance.

"Do you want to get punished, Yerim?"

Heejin dashed away from the elevator, trying to look for another one of those pale green doors that would hopefully lead her to a stairwell. She knew it was ridiculous trying to outrun a vampire down thirty flights of stairs, but if it was her last hope of surviving she would take it.

But the more she searched, the more she realized that there was nothing. There was no door, and there were no stairs, and there was no exit.

Her heart stopped beating.

It was over for her. She had considered how she would die in the past with her friends in a joking manner; she had said how she wished for it to be calm and peaceful in her sleep, or at least while she was living her happiest moment so that she would be able to die happily. Some of her friends had joked how they wished they would die heroically, like a bullet to the chest while they were protecting the one's they loved. She had thought of it as idealistic and too imaginative. No way would any of them get into a situation that would require bullets and gunfire. Yet here she was.

In a panic, her eyes looked outward and towards the opposite building. Even if she were superhuman, there would be no way for her to jump across to safety.

But I'm not going to die to bullets.

With an almost terrifying resolution, her mind went blank. Her steps took her, faster and faster, towards the tall window that looked far too thin to be safe. Nothing went through her head as the image of the streets down below grew closer.

God forgive her.

Heejin closed her eyes and waited for impact-

Only to be held back by a pair of arms and immediately swung around to be send flying across dirty concrete.

The breath was knocked out of her lungs for the second time that night, and she could feel her heart pumping wildly in her chest as she tried to process the fact that she had almost just jumped out of a thirty storey building. Her fingers were jittering nervously, and as soon as she had regained the slightest of oxygen she pushed herself up onto her elbow to scan the area for any enemies.

And she located three. One that she didn't want to associate with the word 'enemy'.

"Please-" Heejin's voice broke as Yerim continued walking towards her, a blank look on her face. "Yerim please don't do this-"

"I'm sorry, Unnie." When Yerim tried to reach out for her, Heejin kicked at her hand.

She scrambled backwards desperately, doing her best to get out of her reach. If she was going to go down fighting, then she would do so with whatever strands of dignity she had left inside of her.

With kicks and punches, Heejin continued to push Yerim away. She did so until Yerim grew frustrated and seized her by the elbow and completely lifted her up from the ground in one move. The amount of strength that was required for that was more than what Yerim looked like she had just exerted, and she already knew that this was a lost fight. But it didn't stop her from pushing Yerim's face away from her and clawing at her hand that refused to release the claw-like grip it had on her skin.

As if she were just dealing with a resisting puppy, Yerim began to drag her in a certain direction. Heejin landed a punch to her cheek, though the only reaction was Yerim leaning her head back from the impact and grimacing from the pain. She tried dropping her weight to the floor to make it harder for her to move, but Yerim just yanked at her arm to get her upright once more. She tried to beg and plead for her mercy, but Yerim completely ignored her and refused to even look at her while she gripped her other wrist when she went to hit her chest.

"Hold her still."

Heejin shook her entire body in desperation. She hoped that one of her hits would stun Yerim and make her weaken her grip, giving her an opportunity to make a run for it. But even when she tried to reach for her throat her movements were restrained as easily as if she were a child throwing a tantrum. When a hand tried covering her mouth with a gag, she snapped at it like a wild animal.

She felt a blow to the side of her ribs, but the pain was quickly masked by the panic and adrenaline numbing her limbs. Instead, she tried channelling the pain into her anger so that she could headbutt Yerim's head when she leaned in closer to get a better hold on her. Another blow to her stomach when she stomped on the hand that had been touching the skin at her ankles. This time the impact forced her to release the air in her lungs and her eyes begin to water from the bruising sensation taking over her body. It didn't stop her from savagely kicking at Choi's face when he tried to grip her leg.

"Don't make me do it." Choi raised his voice, making it echo throughout the empty floor.

Feeling satisfaction from landing a hit on him, Heejin swung her leg around and struck him round the side of the head.

When she felt another blow on her leg, she barely reacted to it.

But then she couldn't move that leg that had been punched, and suddenly there was something being clasped to her ankle that felt cold and heavy and metallic.

From then, it was easy to control her other leg, which was quickly restrained with the same material that had cuffed on her other ankle. Then the same thing happened to one of her wrists, and after that, the other.

Finally, Yerim released the painful grip that she had on her. When she backed away, Heejin was able to see tears streaking down her face and making her cheeks glow in the harsh yellow light emanating from a lamp placed atop a cheap, plastic table. But Heejin barely had any energy left in her to be able to feel any kind of understanding and forgiveness. Something inside of her snapped when she tried to lunge out towards them and was bolted back into place with the ringing sound of metal against metal. Something that made her glare with hatred and and loathing at who she had thought to be her sister.

Choi stood up from his crouching position cradling his head with a grimace on his face. Wincing, he stretched his jaw and tried moving it carefully. The sight of blood sprouting from his cheek made Heejin's heart fill with gratification, that being the only thing that made her want to at least laugh in his face.

And she would have, had it not been for the dull aching on her leg.

"Now... everything would have gone much better if you had just stayed still." He scolded with a light tone as he would have done had she forgotten her homework for one of her classes when he was still her homeroom teacher. It made her sick. "I'm sorry that I had to resort to something like that, but you didn't give me a choice."

Heejin frowned, still huffing to catch her breath. A light glinted into her eye and she squinted to try to stop it from hurting her.

When she saw where it had come from, the pain in her leg amped up to a screaming, blazing sensation that almost made the black in her peripherals cloud her vision. It was as if when she saw the knife clutched in his bloody hand, coated in crimson red and dripping onto the concrete carelessly, all feelings that had been numbed by the adrenaline had returned.

The scream that erupted from her chest was inevitable -- as was the way she collapsed to the floor due to not being able to further put any more weight onto that leg.

Blood was oozing from the cut that had been dug deep into her revealed skin, dripping down in streams down to her previously white socks that were now being stained a horrible crimson. The gash was about the size of the length of her thumb, and the skin around looked like it had been lifted upwards from the force that the dagger had been pulled out at. Already a dark, purple bruise was forming, looking ugly against her pale skin. It almost looked like someone had decided to drop a bucket of dark red paint on her leg, and now it was staining the floor beneath.

The more she looked at it, the more she was able to remember feeling something being inserted into her body and feeling it while it was in there. Something that wasn't supposed to be there.

When she tried to apply any kind of pressure to the wound, her hands were restrained by the metallic cuffs that had been wrapped around her wrists.

"I'm going to give you some time to cool down. When I'm back, we will talk." Choi's voice was muffled as Heejin groaned loudly, tears falling from her face. She could still feel the blade inside of her leg. "Chaewon, do what you can to stop the bleeding. We don't want her dying while she's in our care."

The burning in her leg didn't die down, and neither did the burning in her heart.

How ironic.

A dagger had been her symbol of betrayal. She had brought a dangerous weapon with the intent of using it on the girl that she loved to achieve what her parent's expectations were of her. She had prayed and wished to be forgiven for her betrayal, reasoning that it wasn't her fault and that it was her parents that had forced her to carry out their stupid mission. But now that she had been betrayed by who she thought she could trust with her life -- who she had whole-heartedly thought of as a sister -- there was no room for forgiveness in her heart. The bitterness of betrayal was too hard to taste. She wanted nothing more than to loathe and detest Yerim for bringing so much pain to her. So much pain in her heart.

And yet she longed to be forgiven.

"Heejin..." Chaewon's small, airy voice cut through her pained groans. The contrast in tone was like the sound of butterfly winds in comparison to the engine of a plane. "Stay still, please."

Heejin blinked furiously to try and center her vision. In it she could see a familiar tiny figure with slouched, self-conscious shoulders and a curtain of black hair that fell to cover a worried face.

"Y-you should be- you should be gone..." At any moment now, Heejin's heart could fail in her chest. "Where is Gowon?"

Had she been more sane, she would have been able to see what facial expression Chaewon pulled. But the pain from the stab wound was driving her directly into insanity -- to the point where she could barely even form coherent sentences.

"She's not coming out now." Chaewon's hands hesitantly touched at her hip, but even that sent shocks of pain shooting up her spine and into another groaning fit. "I'm here- I can help you."

"I don't... care..." Heejin let her head hit the concrete floor, her arms uncomfortably lifted upwards by the chains. She was tired. She wanted to go to sleep. When Yerim, who appeared to be still crying, crouched beside Chaewon with a familiar hand on her shoulder, Heejin violently flinched away from them. "Get away from me." The look of agony that warped the girl's features almost made Heejin's resolve crumble. "Don't touch me."

At Chaewon's worried look, Yerim shook her head weakly. "It's okay, I'll leave." She comfortingly squeezed the small girl's shoulder before standing back up. Heejin refused to look at her face, even when she physically felt her desperate stare on her.

Heejin wanted to be forgiven, but she wasn't willing to give forgiveness.

Heejin wanted to feel alright, but she was there bleeding to death.

Heejin wanted to go to sleep. So she did.


	21. twenty-one

Hyunjin's hands played with the familiar phone case. To think that this was the last thing that she had that would connect her to Heejin made her grip on the device tighten even more. At one point, Heejin's dainty, small fingers would have been wrapped around the sides as she texted away with her friendship group while she waited for her to finish her athletics practice. She could still remember the faint smile on her lips as she looked down at her phone screen, distracted by the onslaught of videos to the group chat that she had never been added to.

Her heart squeezed at the memory, and her thumb gently pressed against the home button so that she could gain access into the phone.

When she had discovered the familiar device buzzing wildly near the kitchen counter on their way out to head towards the syndicate court, she had reluctantly gone to pick it up. Her mind was full of bitter thoughts that plagued her mental health, stating how Heejin had fled from the scene because she hadn't had a viable explanation and was indeed guilty for what she had been accused of. But when she mindlessly unlocked the phone out of habit, she had been met with messages from Heejin's parents threatening to take things away from her, stating their concern for her wellbeing and asking about her whereabouts. And out of curiosity, she couldn't help but scroll up to the last message that Heejin had sent.

Reading it, Hyunjin realized that whatever business Heejin had with that cursed silver dagger of hers, she no longer wanted anything to do with it. Immediately afterwards, her mind filled with relief and her eyes brimmed with tears as she realized that there was hope left for Heejin.

But now all she had left of her was her phone with a cracked screen, so she couldn't even look at the countless of selfies she took without them being disturbed by the sharp, jagged crack across the screen. It didn't stop her from staring at every single picture for at least five minutes, admiring the way she looked because she somehow got extremely lucky and managed to get a girl as beautiful as Heejin to fall in love with her. Somehow it was almost impossible to process the fact that Hyunjin had had Heejin -- the prettiest, most popular girl in school -- and she had let her go.

Just how stupid could she be?

"Are you still thinking about her?"

Hyunjin looked up from the picture of Heejin with some of her friends towards Jinsoul, who looked the most exhausted she had ever seen her. There was just something in the way her eyelids drooped over her cold brown eyes, and the bags under her eyes sagged as if she hadn't slept for days, that made Hyunjin immediately grow concerned for her.

Taking a seat beside her at the window, Jinsoul made sure that their bodies would press up against one another.

With one last look at Heejin's grinning face, Hyunjin let the screen of her phone black out before letting her head drop against the wall behind her. "I know..." Jinsoul had been absolutely livid with Heejin when she had discovered the blade -- so much so that she feared that she would have killed the girl had she not stopped her in time. After what the blonde had told her about her dark past with Jungeun, she couldn't exactly blame her for being sensitive to having her trust broken by someone she had thought she could trust. She just wished that they had acted more rationally, because maybe then Heejin would still be here to explain what had happened.

Carefully, Jinsoul let her head fall against Hyunjin's shoulder. Hyunjin automatically let hers fall against Jinsoul's, taking in a big breath in time with the blonde as they stared out of the window.

The syndicate court was located near the suburbs, though the location was far more surprising than what Hyunjin had anticipated. It was an old buddhist temple, though it was obvious which part of the building was the original and which was the more modern area that had been finished centuries after the construction began. Almost as if the original builders had given up half-way through. But it was enough for a political group of sanguisuge to locate their base peacefully and away from humans.

Now they were just waiting for all of the sanguisuge on the board to arrive at the temple so that they could begin Jinsoul's trial.

"You really love her?" The way that Jinsoul said it was phrased more like a statement rather than a question, and it made Hyunjin's heart contract painfully in her chest once more as she remembered the intensity of her emotions. When Hyunjin didn't respond, Jinsoul hummed. Her smooth hand slid into hers, loosening her grip on Heejin's phone. "Of course. You and I are really similar after all."

Hyunjin interlaced their fingers together, wanting to feel the familiar feeling of their palms pressed up together. "She was being controlled by her parents." It wasn't enough of an explanation for what terrible thing Heejin had done, but it sufficed for Hyunjin and her feelings. "She wasn't going to use the dagger on anyone."

Even if Jinsoul's body grew tense against hers at the chosen topic, Hyunjin patiently gave her time to process everything. "I'm glad," she said after a long while. To prove her point, the blonde squeezed her hand and Hyunjin could almost see the corners of her lips lifting into a bittersweet smile.

Humming in response, Hyunjin continued to watch as streaks of dawn began to paint the sky. She was familiar with a scene like this; weeks ago she had seen almost exactly the same image just after she had first been turned into a sanguisuge, and the blonde had come to grant her the chance of death. Now they sat hand in hand, pressed up against one another for warmth in the cold of the dreadful situation, seeking comfort in each other's company. Nothing would have ever prepared her back then for the unconditional love and care that Jinsoul provided for her when no one else had.

Jinsoul sighed and proceeded to lift her head from her shoulder. Both of them shifted to find a better position, and Hyunjin sought one that would allow her to see Jinsoul's face in the dull light of the sunrise.

"I'm sorry." Surprise overcame her when the words came out of Jinsoul's mouth. Never once had Jinsoul apologized for anything to her -- to anyone. "I know that I haven't had the best impact in your life and... and I just wanted you to know that I regret doing what I did to you."

Frowning, Hyunjin clenched her hand around Jinsoul's. "What are you saying? You don't have to be sorry."

But even that came out too weakly, and Hyunjin could hear the lie in her voice when she pronounced her words. Jinsoul knew immediately as her smile remained that melancholy tone. "Hyunjin, I know what if feels like." Hyunjin couldn't help the surprise that she felt when she heard the blonde calling her by her actual name instead of the nickname she had given her. "I hated my creator with everything that I was -- I would never see her as anything other than a monster and I wanted nothing to do with her the whole time that she tortured me with her presence. But even as much as I tried to convince myself that I didn't need anything from her, all that I ever wanted was an apology from her." Wistfulness filled Jinsoul's voice, the heavy weight of her stare burdensome on Hyunjin's weak resolve. "At least a hint of remorse for what she did to me and the people that I loved. But I never got it from her, and as much as I've wanted to deny it and continue to deny it to this day, I have never gotten the closure that I needed from her."

Hyunjin felt her emotions tossing and fighting one another inside her chest, one being unable to gain control of her expression. This wasn't what she wanted Jinsoul to feel. She wanted her to be happy so that they could be happy together.

"I don't want the same for you." Jinsoul admitted, leaning forward so that their foreheads touched. "I don't want you to not get the closure that you need. I don't want to become like Saerim."

"No," she denied, shaking her head and leaning back because this felt too much like a goodbye. "Unnie, you will never be anything like her." Hyunjin grabbed the side of Jinsoul's face so that she would at least look at her in the eye to force her to believe her words, seeing as she didn't trust anything coming out of her mouth at that moment. "You have been so, so good to me. You have taken better care of me than even my own mother and even if you're an annoying piece of shit sometimes-" Jinsoul scoffed, glaring at her slightly. "-you still do everything in your power to provide for me. So no, you are not anything like that monster." With her other hand, she grabbed Jinsoul's head and forcefully pressed their foreheads together. "You are not. A. Monster."

Resolve weakened slightly, and Hyunjin could see the vulnerability in Jinsoul's eyes that she tried so hard to disguise in front of the syndicate, and Jungeun, and Haseul and even Vivi.

Hyunjin's mouth went dry. She had something that she wanted to say without the courage that was required to say it. She had only known Jinsoul for a month and a half, yet she already felt like she had known her her whole life. Deep down she knew that the bond that they shared through creator and creation made everything much easier to feel like they were linked in every way including their souls, but the more time that she spent with the blonde the easier it became to come to like her as a person. Even if their relationship had begun out of something macabre and immoral, Hyunjin grew past it and was even beginning to embrace it. The promise that she had proposed to Jinsoul that night was ingrained into her mind.

Jinsoul and her were each other's family.

"Don't kiss me now, or I'll have to tell that human of yours all about it-"

Groaning, Hyunjin pushed Jinsoul away from her and smacked her shoulder, telling her how she ruined the mood.

"I'm sorry." Jinsoul laughed, half-heartedly protecting herself from the storm of blows that Hyunjin unleashed on her. When the latter didn't stop, she tackled her into a hug that restrained her arms tightly to her body, and even if Hyunjin was strong enough to be able to break out any time she wanted to she just allowed it to happen. "You were going to say something," she stated observantly, resting her chin on her shoulder. "What was it?"

Now that she had the perfect opportunity to say it, she couldn't get the words out of her mouth. It was just far too embarrassing for her to say.

Realizing that Hyunjin wasn't going to say anything any time soon, Jinsoul scooted closer to her and nuzzled her head into her hair. "What is it~" she cooed mischievously, one of her fingers coming up to poke at her cheek and proceed to tickle her chin. "I would say 'cat's got your tongue', but you're still the Kitten yourself so I guess I can't."

Hyunjin rolled her eyes, her cheeks tinged a soft pink as she avoided Jinsoul's enquiring gaze. "You know I still hate that stupid nickname."

"No you don't, you love it." Jinsoul blatantly stated as if it were a known fact, the wide grin on her face pressed into her hair. "You're not even saying anything because you know it's true, isn't it Kitten~"

Deciding to completely ignore her, Hyunjin playfully pretended to sulk and instead looked outside of the window no matter how many times Jinsoul repeated her nickname. Silence fell over them instead, and Jinsoul kept her chin near the crook of her neck as she was almost positioned behind her, hugging her from behind in a way. The feeling of Jinsoul's chest rising and falling against her back served as an indication of when to inhale and exhale; soon, without even realizing it, their breaths had managed to sync up in the warm atmosphere that they had created for themselves. Everything felt at peace when it was just the two of them, casually existing with one another as the only conversation that happened was between the early birds nesting in the trees several feet from the beautiful temple.

"If you had all of the freedom in the world, where would you be right now?" Hyunjin's voice was soft, reminiscent of all those nights they had laid together speaking into the darkness of Jinsoul's room -- their room. It wasn't uncommon for them to fantasize of a better world, asking each other questions as they created another reality entirely different from the one they were forced to live.

Jinsoul hummed, the tune pleasantly melting into Hyunjin's ears. "Somewhere peaceful." She responded surprisingly simply. Most of the blonde's answers tended to be elaborate and thought out, as if she had thought of them a thousand times over in her head and had prepared an answer in case she was granted a wish. A blunt, simple question was extremely rare.

Nodding, Hyunjin let her head lean against the side of her head once more. She would love to be at peace.

"I think that I'm tired." Jinsoul's voice was suddenly weak, as if she had just remembered everything around them at once. "I just want to rest now, Kitten."

"Then sleep." Hyunjin gently guided Jinsoul's head so that it rested on her shoulder, making sure to briefly play with her hair as Heejin would have done to comfort her. "You can rest."

Jinsoul didn't say anything, but she did laugh softly as if she were thinking something secretly to herself.

The yellow light of the sun had already marked its place in the blue sky by the time that Hyunjin looked up from Heejin's phone where she had been staring at a selfie of them together and angled her head towards the meek knocks at the door. She was careful not to disturb Jinsoul, who had been sleeping quietly on her shoulder ever since the moment that she had laid her head down. In the doorway stood the last person she had expected to see: Jungeun was dressed in an oversized royal blue shirt that fell down almost mid-thigh.

Truthfully, Hyunjin had pretended not to see the way Jinsoul had thrown the shirt at Jungeun's face when the latter had been trying to fix the rip across her own shirt that unveiled the bright red gash on her stomach. She knew better than anyone that the relationship between the two was more complicated than a simple 'falling out' as she had first assumed it was. No matter how many times Jinsoul cursed out Jungeun's name and said how much she hated her, Hyunjin could still see traces of affection in the blonde's gaze whenever she let her guard down enough for her eyes to reveal her true emotions. And the reciprocated feelings were like screaming bright neon lights on Jungeun's face every time she laid her eyes on Jinsoul, not caring if the latter was looking (scowling) back at her or not. Whatever it was that was going on between the two, Hyunjin knew it wasn't her place to say anything.

Had Hyunjin turned her head a second earlier, she would have been able to see the softest expression ever on Jungeun's face as she watched the scene with an unconditional amount of love, obvious longing marring her features, and guilt as she remembered something from the past.

"Hi..." Jungeun looked like a normal girl in that instance. The abrupt shyness on her face as she hesitantly took a step into the room and shuffling back out, only to do the same again made Hyunjin almost drop her jaw in surprise. It was almost impossible trying to imagine that this was the same person that had Jinsoul's family killed in the past.

Wary of how Jinsoul still seemed to be asleep on her shoulder, Hyunjin gestured for her to come in. She didn't want Jungeun to be awkwardly standing around all the time.

Jungeun awkwardly sat herself opposite them, her hands folded neatly on her lap as she physically tried to keep her eyes from Jinsoul's sleeping figure. Hyunjin didn't think that she'd ever seen the woman look so sheepish and insecure of herself -- not too dissimilar to a high school girl fawning after her crush from afar. It was amusing to say the least, the way that Jungeun sat so tense as if she were about to have dinner with Jinsoul's parents for the first time and wanted to make a good impression.

"Is everything okay?" Hyunjin asked, trying to infer to when the court meeting would begin.

"I hope everything will be," Jungeun said, giving up and letting her eyes bore into the sleeping girl next to her, "for her sake..."

Had Hyunjin been an inch further away from Jinsoul, she wouldn't have felt the way her fingers twitched beside hers, giving up the sleeping act that she was trying to pull. But she had felt it, and she was almost sure that the blonde thought that she was fooling the both of them, so she decided to use it to her advantage.

"You worried about her?" Hyunjin nonchalantly rested her head back against the ball behind her, letting her eyelids lower over her eyes in a mildly intimidating manner.

Jungeun's face fell momentarily as if she hadn't expected the question to be so blunt, but she quickly regained her composure and looked away from Jinsoul's figure. "When do I not?" Her voice was quiet, almost as if she were ashamed of admitting the fact, but it had been enough for Hyunjin to hear. Which meant that Jinsoul had heard, too, judging by the way her heart rate picked up a little. She then turned to look at Hyunjin with a nervous chuckle, and Hyunjin could tell just how anxious she was to be talking to her. "I don't want anything bad to happen to her, I swear."

Raising an eyebrow, Hyunjin continued to watch as Jungeun insecurely shifted in her place. Was Jungeun... afraid of her?

"I'm- uh... I just..." Jungeun gulped, standing back up hurriedly. "I came to say that the court have arrived. They said to get Sol- you guys ready for the trial."

Jinsoul literally flinched against Hyunjin when she heard that, but still continued to pretend as if she were sleeping. So Hyunjin nodded reassuringly and gave Jungeun a small smile, which helped her posture relax immediately afterwards. "I'll wake her up, don't worry."

Jungeun continued to just stand there, her feet shifting backwards and forwards as if she were contemplating whether to leave or not. Her gaze was heavily concentrated on Jinsoul's face, the look of longing in her eyes almost too painful to bare for Hyunjin who was just watching with curiosity as to what the brunette would do next. After a couple of moments of looking like she was having a mental breakdown right there, Jungeun closed her eyes and took a big breath. Quickly and swiftly, as if she were just casually going to pick up something from beside Jinsoul, she leaned down. Hyunjin only knew that she had briefly brushed her lips to Jinsoul's cheek because the blonde's heart was literally pounding out of this world, and if she looked down right now then she would be able to see the beginnings of a blush on her pale cheeks.

Perhaps Jungeun would have seen it too if she hadn't immediately dashed out of the room, her last words being that the syndicate were waiting for them.

Amusedly, Hyunjin waited for Jungeun's footsteps to distance themselves enough before jolting Jinsoul's head from her shoulder.

The blonde used her speed to shoot up, moving to the opposite side of the room as she fixed the strands of her hair that had gone askew during her small nap. Her back was turned to Hyunjin, but her heartbeat was still audible to her sanguisuge ears.

"Unnie?" She couldn't help the slight teasing tone in her voice as she addressed Jinsoul. That had been the most unexpected thing to have happened so far, and for Jinsoul to have just allowed it when several weeks ago she was on the verge of shoving her hand through Jungeun's chest was more than surprising to say the least. There was no way that Hyunjin could really be blamed for being so amused by all of this.

Spinning around, Jinsoul glared lightly at Hyunjin. The morning glow floating in the room did well to display the color that had returned to Jinsoul's face, as well as the angry and irritated expression she was pulling. "Watch it, Kitten." She warned, though it didn't stop Hyunjin from dancing her eyebrows at her.

The two bickered lightly, pushing one another though always coming back for comforting holds.

Hyunjin hoped that she would be able to continue living like this with Jinsoul. She may not have been ready to tell her what she wanted to say at that moment, but she knew that she would be ready later on. And she would be able to tell her what she wanted to say.

-

Standing beside Jungeun, Hyunjin felt her nerves soothe a little.

This was her first ever time attending anything that was similar to a court trial, but she had happened to stumble across some news articles once in a while that involved information about what one was like. She doubted that it would help at all when the politics between sanguisuge were different to that of humans, but she thought that it was good to be informed of at least roughly how things like these worked. At least the layout was more or less similar: instead of having a singular judge to decide the ruling, the Elders were sat on a series of chairs at the top of the stairs leading to the main room of the temple; where the jury would be were the group of Lords and Ladies, where surprisingly Vivi was sat amongst them; other sanguisuge were standing in a crowd on the opposite side of the Elders, audibly talking about Jinsoul and her legacy.

Hyunjin had expected to be placed among the other sanguisuge, but instead they had been directed to the side where a group of guards were standing with what looked like guns. She had had the instinct to be hostile when one of them had grabbed her by the arm, but she managed to restrain herself before she could do anything too stupid.

As if she were the main performer for the day, Jinsoul was placed in the center of the space that the syndicate had left for her with the two tall men who had been at the house on either side of her at a respectable distance. She had almost lashed out when she saw that Jinsoul's wrists were handcuffed together by a heavy looking metal, but Jungeun quickly assured her that this was normal procedure and that they couldn't do anything to change the law. Which Jinsoul herself had actually written out, so protesting against it would be extremely hypocritical.

At the center of the Elders was a stoic looking man, though his appearance didn't look a day over twenty-two. His face was chiselled and his dark blue eyes were devoid of any emotion, appearing as if he were just a beautiful mannequin placed there for aesthetic. Hyunjin attempted to listen into his heartbeat or at least his breathing pattern, but she found that it was almost impossible to hone into any sound when there were so many people murmuring at the same time. Frustratedly, she paid attention to the way his hands were clenched in front of him on the table and how he was looking at Jinsoul as if he were trying to study her. Had she not known any better, Hyunjin would have thought that he were interested in Jinsoul.

"Silence." One of the other Elders -- a woman who was stunningly beautiful though appeared to look just as cold as the man -- stood up from her seat and let her pinkish glare cast over the crowd of sanguisuge. Immediately, the whispers died down on command. "Any signs of resistance or violence will be immediately terminated by the guards. Master Kim Doyoung will begin the trial now."

Every muscle in Hyunjin's body became taut. Beside her, Jungeun watched on quietly. She was less anxious than Hyunjin was seeing as she had likely attended trials like these in her long lifetime before. (Jinsoul had told her how both Vivi and Jungeun were there during her last trial, so that would explain their familiarity and startling ease when observing.)

Hyunjin didn't believe in any gods, but she prayed to whatever force was up there that everything would turn out okay.

Once the woman had sat back down in her seat, the man at the center quietly bowed his head at her in 'thanks' and stood up from his own chair, which appeared to be decorated more extravagantly than the rest. "The sun is south hereby commencing the trial of Jung Jinsol as of now." Doyoung's voice was surprisingly soothing and calm, pronouncing his words without a rush in the world. For some reason, it made whatever nerves Hyunjin had been feeling simmer down to a faint boil.

The trial continued with Doyoung speaking out about the rules about the trial, reciting them as if he had had them ingrained in his head from the date of his birth. Every sanguisuge listened out attentively, latching onto his every word with an immense amount of respect for his position as Master, which outranked the other Elders gathered beside him at the table. Hyunjin desperately wanted to hate him, seeing as he was currently conducting a case against her creator, but his way of speaking was far too similar to how Jinsoul spoke whenever she was serious about something. Even the way he carried himself was almost the same.

When Doyoung walked around the table and down the steps towards one of the guards, Hyunjin watched with bated breath. The guard presented him with a blade that glimmered under the heat of the midday sun, casting off rays of light around the temple almost beautifully. She knew it wasn't silver when Doyoung gingerly picked it from the guard's hands without much of a reaction and began walking over to where a large metallic bowl was placed in front of the Elders' table. Gracefully, he hovered his hand over the bowl and seemed to take a breath before taking the blade in his hand and dragging it across the surface of the palm of his hand, tearing his skin open and causing blood to drop into the bowl.

"What is he doing?" Hyunjin gripped at Jungeun's elbow, watching with mild mortification. The stench of his sanguisuge blood was severely unpleasant for her nose, though it seemed that everyone else was unbothered by it.

Jungeun harshly grabbed at the hand that was holding onto her, squeezing back just as tightly. One of the guards standing near them stepped threateningly towards them, an irritated look on his face as his hands threatened to raise the gun and aim directly at them. Quickly, Jungeun respectfully bowed her head as a form of apology and encouraged Hyunjin to do the same despite her reluctance. When the guard returned to his position once more (seemingly satisfied by the submission) Jungeun sent her a warning glance.

Doyoung lowered his hand and instantly the same sanguisuge that had given him the blade handed him a cloth to hold in his hand to help stop the bleeding. He began walking over to where Jinsoul stood, watching wordlessly with a confident stance, and the hairs on Hyunjin's body rose to attention.

Sensing her panic, Jungeun soothingly placed a hand on her lower back telling her to relax. "It's part of the ritual. Don't worry."

Wiping the bloodied blade on the cloth in his hand, Doyoung lifted it to his eye to examine it in the sun. His stature towered over Jinsoul's, though he held himself with the same amount of modest confidence that she displayed as she watched him carry out his actions carefully. When he looked at Jinsoul in the eye, Hyunjin saw how hers lit up that familiar neon blue to meet his glowing dark blue, the two colors speaking almost without any words. Vigilantly, he slowly lowered his upper body into a deep bow, his eyes cast down lowly as a sign of submission to Jinsoul who just looked ahead with an unmoving blank stare.

Murmurs of confusion and outrage arose around the temple, but it was quickly silenced by one of the Elders who dangerously stood from their place at the table. Hyunjin could see Chiwon from his place among the Lords and Ladies, and saw how indignation tainted his glaring red eyes. Then, the Elder who had stood bowed too in submission.

Hyunjin watched in wonder as the rest of the Elders began to stand from their places and followed suit. Seeing as their higher ups were doing the same, the rest of the sanguisuges began to show their respect to Jinsoul who had remained in that same position the whole while.

Glancing beside her, Hyunjin saw how confusion breached Jungeun's face, telling her that this wasn't something that had ever happened before. Nonetheless, she too bowed out of respect towards Jinsoul, and as did Vivi from where she was sat among the Lords and Ladies.

When Doyoung presented Jinsoul with the same blade he had used, everyone began settling back to their previous positions. The blonde looked up at Doyoung as if they were silently communicating with one another, and she daintily placed her hand in his. Hyunjin could tell that everyone was unnerved by the strange display in front of them, watching as instead of fighting for dominance the two figures seemed to mutually agree on something. Even Jungeun was shifting uncomfortably beside her.

Finally, Jinsoul grabbed a hold of the handle of the blade and began to walk towards the large metallic bowl containing a small puddle of Doyoung's blood. Hyunjin had to hold onto Jungeun's elbow tightly as Jinsoul opened the palm of her hand emotionlessly, refraining from going over there and stopping her creator from hurting herself. Everyone watched the blood falling from the blonde's hands as if they were bewitched, and Hyunjin swore she could see a satisfied smirk on Chiwon's face as he watched the whole thing.

Quickly after that the blade was removed from Jinsoul's grasp and the two men walked her back to where she was originally stood. When Doyoung was back in his own seat, he looked at the Elder at the bottom of the table and gave them a soft nod.

A boy not older than fourteen took that as his signal and stood from his place. His eyes were glinting a powerful red as he walked down the steps to stand in front of the Elders table, though his facial structure seemed to be stuck in that time where the baby fat was still prominent in his cheeks. Hyunjin wondered why so many sanguisuge looked like small children, but then she remembered that a lot of them came from a time where the oldest age someone could live was thirty-years-old. (She just hoped that it wasn't for any other messed up reason.)

He introduced himself as Park Byunchull and began giving a speech to the sanguisuge about who Jinsoul was. The whole time, Hyunjin's shoulders remained tense as she watched around for any sign of danger, but all she could find were the intrigued faces of sanguisuges. It was as if they were watching a scene from a TV drama play out in front of them.

"Jung Jinsol." He turned to address Jinsoul, who watched with that same cold look. "You have a criminal record for breaking the law stating it is illegal to turn humans to sanguisuge, and were sentenced to a century underground as punishment. This punishment was implemented in March of 1931, and was due to be finished by March of 2031. However, when syndicate member Lord Chiwon, and sanguisuges Liu Thahn and Hwang Jaegun went to patrol the area on December of 2005, Jung Jinsol was missing from site. Therefore, your previous punishment is incomplete by 26 years, and syndicate law states that if a punishment is breached it should be further carried out with additional sentence time."

Jinsoul nodded pensively. Whereas Hyunjin was panickedly trying her best not to have a mild breakdown at the beginning of the trial, Jinsoul seemed to appear like none of Byunchull's words were affecting her. She hadn't even had any time to prepare anything to defend herself, which in comparison to a human trial, was extremely unfair.

"The syndicate law also stated that if the punishment would be unable to be further carried out because of natural circumstances, then it would not be at fault of the persecutor." Hearing Jinsoul's voice be that smooth, calming, silvery voice was enough for Hyunjin to begin to gain some confidence. She had heard plenty of stories from Jinsoul about her past and all of the difficult, near-death situations she had gotten herself in, and at the end of them she always managed to find away out. Jinsoul loved to cheat death. "That night, the ground was split open from above by what I suspect to be an earthquake. This broke the cell that I was in, which no longer gave it proper conditions and allowed me to leave as freely as I pleased, therefore I am not to be at fault of the 'breach of punishment'. And of course I had already been there for 74 years, so I wasn't exactly in the right mind to decide something that would be logical."

Of course, Jinsoul most likely knew the syndicate law better than the syndicate itself. After all, she was the one who had built it from the ground up; she probably knew all the loopholes in their law.

Knowing that allowed Hyunjin to relax slightly, a contrast to how the rest of the syndicate managed to freeze up at her easy way of slipping out of their accusation.

"I refuse to accept that as my responsibility." Jinsoul challengingly looked in Chiwon's direction, staring him down with her threatening glare. "If anything, it's Lord Chiwon's for not running his patrols at the correct timing."

When Chiwon threatened to stand from his seat, guards from around the court raised their guns to aim at him while the two men beside Jinsoul quickly grabbed a hold of her arm. Seeing that he was sorely outnumbered, the small boy bristled and sat deeper in his seat with a pout that seemed appropriate on his prepubescent face.

With an unsure glance, Byunchull looked over his shoulder towards where Doyoung was watching with an interested expression on his face as if for permission to dismiss the accusation. Hyunjin could see the mild amusement on the man's face as he observed Jinsoul's posture and determined expression, as if he had been expecting to see something entertaining and he was getting exactly what he wanted. She held her breath with dread in her chest, praying that Jinsoul would never have to go back to that horrible cell underground. And she released it when Doyoung gave the smallest of nods for Byunchull to proceed.

Jungeun relaxed beside her. A small smile appeared on Vivi's face as she shook her head at Jinsoul, murmuring something about how she always enjoyed putting on a show at these kind of trials. 

Despite trying to appear as calm and collected as they could for Hyunjin not to panic, it was still obvious that they too were worried about Jinsoul. 

Byunchull dismissed the accusation and instead took another approach. "After surfacing the ground, Jung Jinsol has been living away from the syndicate using money supplied to Lady Viian's bank account." At the mention of her name, Vivi tensed among the group of sanguisuge who turned to look at her with either pitying or accusatory glances. "Most recently, it was discovered that Jinsol-ssi has been affiliating herself with a human and was last sighted at the home bought with Lady Viian's money. Syndicate law states that no human should be made aware of sanguisuges existence to maintain the peace treaty signed with the human government, and to protect all sanguisuge life. Breaking this law is punishable by pressing a silver cross to the skin for the same number of humans made aware of sanguisuge existence."

Hyunjin startled. Were they seriously still using a punishment as old as that? The last she'd heard of burning someone's skin as a punishment had been several centuries ago, and she had never actually imagined that one human could do such a torturous thing to another like that. She supposed that giving someone who was essentially immortal a prison sentence of ten years was like putting a child in timeout, so she understood why none of the human sentences would be applied in this case. However, it didn't stop her from balking at how painful that would be for Jinsoul.

Similarly, Jungeun turned away from the scene as if she were disgusted by what was being said. Hyunjin thought that she saw her cover her mouth from the sound of the punishment, but when the demon turned back around she had reverted back to her serious self once more.

Instead of panicking, Jinsoul readily nodded as if she had been expecting it. Still she wore an expression full of worry as she continued to speak. "Despite what syndicate law states, I request that the life of the human is kept safe." When the Elders looked down at her with disappointment and outrage at her request, Jinsoul powered on. "It is true that I have been working with a human for several years now. However, she is the only human that has been made aware of sanguisuge existence and already she has proved to be a useful source for sanguisuges in the future. She has great potential for discoveries of the sanguisuge nature, which will be undeniably resourceful to the syndicate that has become weak in the rapidly advancing human world. We are too dependent on the human government, and keeping this human alive will finally make the syndicate a prominent figure in an increasingly dangerous world."

"What happened to 'no exceptions', Master?" One of the Elders, an older looking female, asked chillingly.

Jinsoul nodded understandingly, but she still had the determination in her stance. "At that time, humanity's view on the sanguisuge was much more prejudiced and we grew a greater risk of being persecuted. But time's have changed." The Elder uncertainly looked back at her, but Hyunjin could see how she was easily becoming convinced. "This human is one of the most trustworthy people that I have met in my lifetime, as well as I can confidently say that she is the smartest. Already she has discovered a way to make animal blood compatible with sanguisuge blood, meaning that we no longer have to be reliant on the human government for blood supplies from their human population." When the rest of the Elders still weren't convinced, Jinsoul let slight desperation enter her voice. "We have even been working on something that could change sanguisuges lives forever- I know most of you are tired of this life... there is a way for you to become human again."

Hyunjin's heart stopped.

She wasn't too sure of the Elders' personality, but she had sensed from Chiwon that he took pride in being a sanguisuge. She had seen the way he had played with Haseul as if she were something to be toyed with -- like humans were beneath sanguisuge. There would be no way that he would want to go back to being a human.

And judging by the scandalized whispers, it appeared that most sanguisuge agreed.

From where the Ladies and Lords were sitting, Hyunjin saw how Vivi's face had fallen. There was dread immobilizing her to her seat as she just stared at Jinsoul with wide eyes, Hyunjin being able to sense the mortification oozing from her slacked jaw.

Jinsoul paid no attention to anything else happening in the court, instead looking directly at Doyoung in the eye. The latter seemed to have an intrigued expression on his face as he regarded her in a seemingly new light, visibly mulling over her words carefully as if deciding on whether he liked a food or not. Once again, the two were sharing a non-verbal conversation as they spoke to each other with the most subtle of facial expressions.

When none of the chaos quieted at Byunchull's desperate calls for silence, Doyoung raised his voice for the first time that day. "Quiet!" Despite the anger in his voice, his facial expression remained that stoic sensation. "The next person who speaks out of place will have silver pressed to their skins."

At the threat, everyone finally began to calm down. It seemed that the Elders had wordlessly agreed to discuss this later, because Byunchull made no statement saying whether they would spare Haseul's life or not (Hyunjin didn't know how to feel about that) and instead decided to move on with the trial.

"All punishments should be carried out immediately, as stated by the new syndicate law." Byunchull announced, though he seemed to be saying it just to inform Jinsoul. The blonde looked momentarily surprised, but an eyebrow raise from Doyoung quickly helped her school her expression and instead she gave a resolute nod.

Hyunjin surged forward when a masked sanguisuge emerged from within the temple, holding a long metallic pole with what was obviously the silver cross at the end of it. Jungeun quickly stopped her, both hands on her arm to hold her back before one of the guards surrounding them could shoot, and pulled her back to her place. The last thing that Hyunjin wanted was for Jinsoul to get hurt, and after seeing what had happened to Yerim's hand when she had touched the silver blade she didn't want to see that happening to her creator.

The two men beside Jinsoul grabbed her arms with ease, seeing as the blonde actually offered them out to them with a surprising amount of readiness. Even from where she was standing, Hyunjin could see just how tightly they were grabbing her skin from the way their fingers dug into her flesh. One of them had to lift the loose shirt she was wearing, which had already plastered to her body because of the sweat that had broken out during the trial.

As the masked sanguisuge approached, Hyunjin began to struggle against Jungeun. There was no way this was actually happening.

Just before the cross was pressed against Jinsoul's body, Jungeun wrapped her arms around Hyunjin to restrain as much of her movements and spun her away from the scene. All that Hyunjin could see for the next ten seconds was one of the guards faces staring back at her with what she would have liked to think was a pitiful expression.

The scream that was almost physically pulled from Jinsoul's throat sent shivers down her spine and tears springing to her eyes. It was as if she could feel mind-numbing the pain that the blonde was going through just by listening to the pained scream that echoed throughout the temple and into the bright day. She could feel exactly how Jinsoul's vocal cords trembled at the pressure, and how when her voice cracked the slightest specks of blood must have stained the back of her tongue from just how sharply she was screaming. It made the bones in Hyunjin's body shake and her limbs to become weak as she realized that there was nothing she could do to help her creator in that situation.

She was a weak sanguisuge for not being able to help her creator.

Relief filled her when Jinsoul stopped screaming, her body going weak in Jungeun's arms as if she had been the one having silver pressed against her skin.

Jungeun soothingly cradled her against her body, holding her tight as if she were trying to suffocate her to death. Both of their hearts were beating wildly in their chests, and if the actions from earlier were anything to go by then Jungeun must have suffered listening to Jinsoul too. She was suffering just as Hyunjin was, and yet she managed to stay in control in a situation like this one.

Once Hyunjin had blinked away enough tears from her eyes, she pulled away from Jungeun's hold. But it seemed like the latter didn't want to let go because she only strengthened her arms around her and buried her head against her shoulder. For several quiet moments, the two of them tried steadying themselves.

The trial had already resumed by the time they returned to their places, and seeing Jinsoul literally weakened to the point where she had to be supported by the two sanguisuge beside her almost made the tears fall from Hyunjin's eyes. Her shirt was plastered to her heaving chest, her strands of blonde hair sticking to the side of her slightly bowed face while she tried to regain her breath. It seemed as if she were trying to blink her vision back, because it took her a while to lift her head back up and look Byunchull back in the eye.

"...came to the attention that a murder had occurred." The Elder was saying with a steady voice, as if he hadn't just watched a torture scene right in front of him. "As far as the human government know, four days ago Han Youngmi went missing. What we know, is that the wounds covering Han Youngmi's dead body resembled one of a sanguisuge, which was recently revealed to be Jung Jinsol. The murder of an innocent human being is punishable by fifty whips to the back."

More? They wanted to hurt her more?

For something that Jinsoul hadn't even done.

Hyunjin was about to go absolutely livid. Something inside of her told her to kill every living thing that tried to harm her creator. That if they were going to derive pleasure out of seeing her family being hurt then they deserved no mercy.

She hadn't even noticed she was making a growling sound in the back of her throat until Jungeun shook her out of her stupor. The demon looked just as devastated as she felt, but it appeared to be that she had an immense amount of self-control because all she did was grab Hyunjin by the back of her neck and apply pressure there. And whatever she was doing, it seemed to be working because all the tension in Hyunjin's body went to her shoulders that she scrunched up.

"Those... weren't sanguisuge marks." Jinsoul's voice had grown weaker, but that look of determination remained on her face as she glared up at Byunchull. "That's what we thought too... in the beginning." A grimace prevented her from carrying on her sentence, and she panted loudly before inhaling sharply. "There have been more 'murders', haven't there?"

The question seemed to silence the rest of the syndicate. Carefully, some Elders looked amongst themselves as if deciding whether or not to reveal the truth. Just that was enough for Jinsoul to go off of, because she laughed in an almost mocking manner through her delirium.

"You know that I am not a serial killer, and that I would never do such... disturbing things." Jinsoul's resolve had weakened enough for a glower to have formed on her face, though Byunchull behaved as if he didn't feel her staring at him. "Yet you want to pin this on me." She laughed again, and Hyunjin almost cracked a smile at the look of panic that crossed the fourteen-year-old-looking's face. "Instead of finding out what... has been murdering innocent human beings and making it look like... sanguisuges are vicious... killing machines..."

For a moment, Hyunjin saw the neon blue in Jinsoul's eyes die roll to the back of her head.

The most sickening amount of dread filled her entire body. Bile rose up in the back of her throat and stung her insides. Her heart stopped beating in her chest.

With a harsh shake from the muscular man helping support her, Jinsoul blinked back into consciousness.

Relief filled her, but now she desperately wanted them to at least let Jinsoul rest before she completely collapsed. Even if she was now shaking the two men beside her off, Hyunjin was still worried that something horrible like that would happen again (and next time, Jinsoul wouldn't wake up). It was cruel for them to carry out the punishments during the trial instead of giving her one, singular punishment that would amount to the consequences of breaching all of the laws that she had breached.

"Proof you provided us with clearly showed your DNA all over the bite wounds." One of the Elders spoke up, a vicious glint to his eyes as he looked down at Jinsoul.

Hyunjin's stomach swerved. She still didn't understand how her own DNA had gotten on those bite wounds when she had never even personally approached Han Youngmi for anything except if she had any spare kimchi for her mother. Even if she had been the one to first find the body, she was more than positive that she was conscious and hadn't gone rabid. So when she was accused of having been the cause of such a brutal death and that there was proof of it, she had almost thought that she was dreaming.

And now, something that had incriminated her was being used against Jinsoul to say that she was the cause of the murder. When it should be her facing those fifty whips on the back because the evidence pointed towards her, and not Jinsoul.

"We can't deny science, right?" The same Elder maliciously squinted his eyes at Jinsoul, as if using her praise for science earlier against her.

Jinsoul laughed in disbelief, shaking her head like the syndicate were absolute morons. Which Hyunjin would have thought so, too, if it weren't for the fact that they seemed to know exactly what they were doing and were just pretending to play dumb to see Jinsoul suffer. It seemed like the Elders had already made up their mind, and the eager glint in Chiwon's eyes as he leaned forward in his seat only proved just how much many sanguisuge wanted see what the 'founder of the syndicate' was capable of.

Byunchull, who had been wordlessly exchanging words with Doyoung in the meantime, turned to face Jinsoul. "The punishment has been reduced to thirty whips on the back. To be carried out immediately."

Hyunjin tried to move, but a large hand on her shoulder pulled her backward. When she went to shout at the person who pulled her back, Junguen's hand applied more pressure on the back of her neck and her voice immediately caught in her throat as the pain shot up to the back of her skull. The tall sanguisuge looked down at her with a warning glare though he didn't seem like he wanted to actually harm her, more like prevent her from doing something stupid. If she had been in a better state of mind, perhaps she would have been grateful for the strange display of kindness he showed her instead of shooting at her, but she wasn't so all she did was bare her fangs at him and allow Jungeun to pull her closer.

The same masked person approached the center of the court once more, but this time holding a whip with numerous strands hanging off of the end. The rope looked to be thick and made of rough material that certainly wouldn't feel pleasant on the skin, and even when the person held it naturally beside them the strands dragged across the floor.

Jinsoul had been lowered to her knees, and the skinnier, one-eyed man had taken the wet shirt from her to reveal her upper body. On her ribcage just below her right breast was the swelling of her skin in the mark of a cross, reminiscent of the silver that had been pressed on the surface of her body for longer than should have been possible. It looked horrible. Almost as if the skin cells were festering and swelling, but also on fire with the way the skin around it flamed red. The wounds from the fight with Gowon were still struggling to heal, though they looked far better than they had when they left Jinsoul's house. Hyunjin was just grateful that sanguisuges could heal at a faster rate than humans.

(At least Jinsoul still had her bra to act as a half-barrier against the whips.)

"The punishment will begin."

The first strike resounded with a loud, thundering clap. Silence fell throughout the temple as the sanguisuge watched on, some with concern for their founder while others with sickening entertainment. Hyunjin's eyes were wide as she stared at the way Jinsoul's body shook from the impact, though somehow she managed to keep herself upright.

At the second strike, Hyunjin felt herself flinch as if she were the one being whipped. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening. She couldn't believe that Jinsoul was suffering a punishment that was intended for her.

With every added strike, Hyunjin felt the tears welling up in her eyes, until all that she could see of Jinsoul was a broken figure in the middle of the court as someone stood over her. Her entire body was literally shaking, and she knew that she should look away at that moment if she wanted to keep her sanity but she just couldn't gather the strength to do so. She didn't want her eyes to leave Jinsoul's body for one moment in case when she looked back, she just wouldn't be there anymore. Even if she had to see her suffer, she didn't want to lose her from her sight for one second.

Jinsoul's groans of pain resounded through the eerily silent temple, her jaw clenched as she did her best to stop herself from screaming out loud.

"Stop." Doyoung's voice cut through the air with calm authority. His expression was unreadable, though his lowered gaze was kept steadily on Jinsoul's slouched figure as if he too was suffering from the same problem that Hyunjin had. "Let her rest before carrying on."

Hyunjin wanted nothing more than to rush down the steps and go towards Jinsoul to help her up -- to soothe her when her whole figure was quaking as hard as it was. From where she was standing, she could see the red marks painted in large slashes across her back, though fortunately only the last couple managed to actually cut in deep and sprout blood onto the skin.

In her hands, she felt Jungeun's body almost convulsing. Through an underwater vision she could see how Jungeun was doing her very best to hold back her own set of tears, though judging from the way she was biting her lip like she wanted to sever it from her mouth it was taking a lot of psychological strength for her. Even though the demon had given herself the task of having to support her through out this whole show, she was barely holding onto her own sanity. She didn't know how either of them were still standing, but it was clear that they both enjoyed torturing themselves with watching the person that they cared about being hurt. 

After a while, Jinsoul lifted her head and looked directly into Doyoung's eyes. Her own still managed to hold that blazing blue flame that shone brightly with conviction despite her physically weak frame.

Then Doyoung gave the signal and the torture continued.

Halfway through, Hyunjin felt like she couldn't take anymore and she had to rip her eyes away. She couldn't force herself to keep on watching any longer.

When Jungeun shouted out loud Hyunjin quickly snapped her head to look back at the scene, only to find that Jinsoul had collapsed against the ground.

Cries and shouts burst out immediately afterwards, this time with several sanguisuge standing up from concern for the blonde who was passed out in the middle of her punishment. The guard that had been helping hold her back was so shocked that he allowed Hyunjin to be released and to try rushing down the steps, only for several other guards who appeared to be unaffected by the events to stop her far more violently than he had. She had to take a moment to gather herself to prevent herself from ripping one of their heads clean off from their shoulders. Instead, she tried to focus in on Jinsoul's heartbeat out of habit.

Byunchull rushed to Jinsoul out of concern, his small hands helping lift Jinsoul's limp head as the two other sanguisuge carried her by the arms so that she wouldn't be lying on the dirty ground. His hands carefully brushed strands of hair from her sweat-drenched face, softly patting at her cheeks to get her to wake up.

When Jinsoul didn't respond, Doyoung made the move to stand from his chair. Hyunjin was in a state of shock where she could barely process anything that was happening, so she did nothing to resist the pushes she was receiving to her shoulders so that she would go back to her place. His face was grim, and for the first time she thought that she saw mild panic in his eyes from the way they darted around the court.

Abruptly, Jinsoul woke up again and reached out to the nearest person to her, which happened to be Byunchull. When she grabbed him by the neck, the whole temple managed to fill with a paralyzing tension. His eyes had widened almost comically, and the way he looked at Jinsoul was like prey looking at its predator. However, Jinsoul managed to gain control of herself once more as she breathed heavily and she slowly loosened her grip on his neck, much to the relief of every other sanguisuge in the room.

Very faintly, she said something to Byunchull, who just shook his head in denial and comfortingly helped raise her back to her two feet.

Doyoung sat back down in his seat just as gracefully as he had stood, but the expression on his face was ten times darker than it had been when they began. With a nod towards Byunchull, he slumped back against the back of his seat and observed the scene through his eyelashes.

"The following law that was breached by Jung Jinsol has been breached once before in the past, influencing the severity of the punishment in comparison to those who are first offenders." He ignored the small murmurs of complaints saying that Jinsoul hadn't been whipped the number of times that they said she would be whipped, instead talking over them with a louder voice. "She was sentenced to a century in the cells after turning Choi Yerim in the 1920s, though she failed to complete that punishment despite it being enforced by the syndicate. Once more, she turned the human Kim Hyunjin just a month ago, hereby breaching the law once more."

At the mention of her name, Jinsoul's head struggled to turn. She let it fall against her shoulder weakly so that her gaze would naturally land on her, and Hyunjin felt whatever emotions and thoughts that had been running through her mind still. Nothing seemed to matter anymore with the overwhelming amount of affection that was radiating from Jinsoul's expression as she looked at her, and despite everything that was happening Hyunjin's chest warmed with the love that she held for her creator.

The smallest twitch in the corner of her lip allowed Hyunjin to receive one of Jinsoul's smiles before her whole world decided to fall apart right in front of her.

"That is punishable by death."


	22. twenty-two

Metal clattered loudly onto the hard concrete floor. The sound resounded in Heejin's ears, her eardrums vibrating from the high frequency of the sound. However, the harsh sound was a symbol of her victory rather than something that should have sounded just as broken as the figure of the girl in front of her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Yerim's slumped figure. Her head remained bowed, dark brown hair falling to cover her crestfallen face and melancholy lining the outline of her shoulders. The way that her hands clenched against the cold concrete ground hard enough for her knuckles to become white was almost enough for Heejin to begin to feel something, but the thoughts in her mind wouldn't take away the sick feeling inside of her.

The silence that had engulfed the room was stifling and cold. There were no sounds from the outside world, and there were no sounds coming from either of the two girls inhabiting the floor of the tall building. It was as if Heejin could almost sink into it and allow her senses to drown in it.

Taking in a big breath, Yerim's hands searched across concrete to collect the discarded spoon. Her fingers trembled as if winter had come early as they wrapped around the handle of the utensil, careful not to touch the food that had been dispersed across the floor. Even if Heejin was blatantly watching her with a stubborn, seething glare, her eyes remained downcast on the almost untouched tray of food that was laying in front of her pitifully as if she were unable to tear her eyes away from it. Another shivering breath and Yerim attempted to gently place down the spoon back onto the tray, only for it to slip from her grasp and rattle onto the tray dully.

Heejin could feel the specks of rice against her cheek where she had turned her head away from the spoon in her refusal to eat. Her lips were plastered together from the lack of moisture in her mouth, the cracks on the surface pressing indents into her lips.

"Unnie, you have to eat something." Yerim's voice was meek, hardly audible despite the lack of interference from any other sound.

Heejin hated how she still referred to her as 'unnie' despite what she had done to her. How she still treated her as if they were close and could trust one another with their lives. But that wasn't the case when she had manipulated her when she was at her weakest and put her in a situation that was near impossible to get out of.

No, Heejin would never be her 'unnie' ever again.

Still, Yerim continued to insist as she grabbed a spare spoon she had likely prepared due to the predictability of Heejin's anger. "Please," she said, desperation seeping into her voice as she scooped a moderate amount of rice. Yerim kept her eyes respectfully trained on the spoon rather than looking directly at Heejin's face.

Warily, Heejin parted her lips with struggle. She could feel the very corner of her mouth sting as the skin split open by the sudden motion and when she ran her tongue along the new wound the metallic taste of blood dominated her taste. Yerim's face visibly lit up so exaggeratedly when she saw the sign of acceptance that Heejin almost expected her to burst out into tears. Several grains of rice fell off from the spoon as Heejin allowed the food to go into her mouth, dropping onto her worn and dirtied school uniform.

A relieved smile sheepishly showed up on Yerim's face, her tired eyes pushed up into a small grin. Glad to have made progress, Yerim sat back on her heels as she watched Heejin with concern. "Thank you Unnie, I didn't want you to starve-"

Heejin spat the food at her.

Yerim's face completely crumbled, and for a moment Heejin felt like a horrible human being for doing something as disrespectful as that before the dull throbbing in her leg reminded her of why she was so angry at her. The girl's wide eyes glistened with unshed tears and Heejin reminded herself of the cuts on her wrists and ankles from where Yerim herself had helped chain her up like an animal. Pitifully, Yerim remained paralyzed with grains of rice and saliva on her shirt and her lap, and Heejin had to repeatedly tell herself that Yerim had been lying to her this whole time and the friendship that they had built was founded on lies and deception.

Lower lip trembling, Yerim turned to face away from her as she reached for a napkin to clean herself up.

She would have continued to wallow in her own anger, but something in Heejin weakened when she heard the small, shaky sobs coming from Yerim. It wasn't impossible to tell that the girl was doing her best to muffle the sounds by biting at one of her fingers, and it was just made more obvious by the way her shoulders moved uncontrollably.

Heejin cursed herself for being so weak, because she suddenly felt the urge to try to comfort Yerim despite everything that she had done to her.

When she tried to speak her voice barely came out, so she resolved to clearing her throat. The sound was enough for Yerim's whole body to still and the hiccups to come to a momentary stop. "Yerim." Her voice was extremely hoarse and speaking almost felt like trying to swallow sandpaper.

Swiftly wiping away whatever tears had spilt in that moment of weakness, Yerim spun around and did her best to appear normal once more. Heejin softened when she saw the hope still visible on her face despite how hard she was trying to hide it behind a stoic expression, but it seemed that she wasn't very good at trying to control her emotions. It reminded her too much of what a little kid would look like if they were told that they were getting ice-cream, and if she were to get mad at something like that then she would likely be a horrible human being. Which Heejin wouldn't mind being for once in a while because she really wanted to continue being mad at Yerim.

"Why are you doing this?"

The question was quick to remove any traces of positivity from Yerim's face. A kind of darkness shadowed over her features and her eyes immediately dropped to the tray of food in front of her, ashamed to even touch Heejin with her gaze. Heejin could hear the thoughts running through Yerim's mind a hundred miles an hour with the way she remained immobile for a suspiciously long time. Whatever chances of forgiveness that Heejin held were beginning to crumble from the way Yerim was reluctant to answer such a simple question, and the anger was beginning to boil up once more.

When Yerim looked back up at her, she had a sorrowful expression that didn't look like it belonged there. "Why am I forcing you to eat? Because I care about you, Unnie. You will heal faster if you have nutrients in your system and we don't want you to-"

"You know that's not what I mean." Heejin interrupted, sympathy in the way she looked at Yerim. The girl was obviously distressed, as if there were something holding her back from answering that question, and Heejin had an inkling that that wasn't her fault. "Why are you chaining me up? Why did you tell me that you were going to help me? Why are you listening to that man?"

Yerim gulped. She looked nervous, and judging by the way she panickedly glanced around the room, it was as if she shouldn't even be talking about this. Heejin could feel the anxiety radiating off of her and the way she distractedly played with the rice in the bowl of food. "Heejin..."

Curiously, Heejin leaned forward as much as the handcuffs would allow her, ignoring the way that the metal dug into her already irritated skin. "Please, Yerim… I don’t understand why you are doing this."

The girl's head remained bowed. Her grip on the handle of the spoon loosened, as if all of the strength had left her body at once and just seeped into nothingness. It was strange to see her so openly broken when she was so used to seeing her doing her best to keep up her bright facade, though she supposed that it was inevitable when they were dealing with something so morbid. As if she were slowly realizing it, Yerim put the spoon back down onto the tray. Heejin wouldn't eat anything else that she tried to feed her, and it was pointless to try to keep insisting on it despite however good her intentions were.

Taking her motion as a surrender, Heejin pressed on with her questions. "Did you know that this was going to happen to me?" Her voice shook as she asked, scared of what the answer would be.

"No, I never wanted you to get hurt." Relief flooded Heejin when she heard the conviction in Yerim's words, as if there were no other alternatives similar to that one. A grimace came onto Yerim's face and twisted her lips into a soft scowl. "Chanwoo just doesn’t have very good patience and tends to resort to… unnecessary means to solve his issues."

At the mention of the unfamiliar name, Heejin had to take some time to process everything she had learnt.

She had always referred to her teachers by their surname along with the added 'seongsaengnim', so it was no wonder that she would have no idea what their first names are. However she remembered from the previous night's encounter that the man had referred himself as 'Choi Chanwoo' as if she were meant to know exactly who he was talking about.

"Chanwoo…" Even just pronouncing the name so casually felt wrong to the way she had been brought up. But she supposed that she shouldn't really refer to the person who had stabbed her in the leg with a knife as her teacher anymore. "Your father?"

Yerim's face contorted even further at the mention of the word. It almost made Heejin let out a disbelieving laugh at how she had managed to fall for such a weak lie when she knew how much information she knew. Truly, the more she thought about it, the more she felt like she was the stupidest person on earth.

(Deep down, she blamed herself for getting herself in this kind of situation. But that was a burden too painful to bear when she still hated herself over everything else she had done over the past several weeks, so she knew she was just pushing the blame onto whatever else she could find.)

"He’s not really my father…" The way that Yerim said the word 'father' was as if it were a foreign concept to her. Which, considering her backstory, she couldn't really blame her for being so unfamiliar with something like that. In fact, Heejin herself couldn't really say that she knew what a true 'father' was, so she found herself relating to the way Yerim toiled the word around in her mouth as if it were unsavory food. "He prefers to call himself that so that people won’t ask any more questions when whenever we talk."

"Of course…" Heejin mumbled, her thoughts being pronounced aloud. "And you went along with it?

Immediately after she said that, Yerim's whole body became defensive and her expression closed itself off. "Look, it’s not like I had much of a choice." Her words were cold and unreceptive, matching the look in her eyes as she refused to look anywhere near Heejin.

"There are always choices." Outrage filled Heejin's body as she raised her voice slightly. "You didn’t have to do something like this- something this cruel- you could have chosen to-"

"How bold of you, talking to me about choices when you chose to betray Hyunjin."

Yerim's words cut deeper than the knife Chanwoo had used on her.

She found that they had a harsher effect than the burning wound in her thigh, because they had managed to reach past the level of physicality and scar her psychologically. It was as if someone had just driven a blade straight through her chest and halted whatever words were going to uselessly spew from her mouth.

She had been caught once more trying to push the blame onto someone else's shoulders. Heejin herself realized that she had just been sinking herself into Yerim's betrayal against her to forget about the betrayal she had caused on Hyunjin. That if she let herself fully embrace the pain that Yerim's treachery had made her feel, then she'd be suffering enough for her sins to be forgiven later on. Perhaps if she just concentrated on the fact that Yerim had used the trust that she had gained over the past several years of knowing each other against her just so that she could put her in a situation like this, then she would be able to forget that she had done a similar thing to the person that she loved.

Maybe then her sins wouldn't be as horrible as she had initially thought them out to be.

(She was wrong, and she knew it. But the truth would always hurt more than the lie, and it was unbearably difficult not to let herself sink back into the lies.)

"I’m sorry for saying that... it was out of line." Yerim's voice was tinged with sincerity, her eyes expressing the sorrow that she must have felt. Heejin found herself looking into them and seeing a part of herself inside of her, yet the denial inside of her prevented her to see a friend in it. A few moments later, the other girl's expression hardened once more. "But you can’t be going around lecturing people about things that you… you don’t know anything about. You don’t know what kind of situation I am in… you don’t understand that for me, there are no options."

Heejin knew that Yerim was being genuine. That the pain in her voice was true and that she shouldn't cast it off as a mere lie, because that's what she would have wanted Hyunjin to do to her if they ever found themselves in a situation as similar as this one. So instead, she asked, "Why?"

It was as if the question had caught Yerim by surprise. As if she hadn't really been expecting Heejin to push her explanation.

Watching the gears turning in her head, Heejin numbly flexed her fingers as her hands had been continuously staying in a limp position. The stinging pain against her wrists and the fire in her leg was the only thing keeping her from thinking that this whole thing was a nightmare.

Yerim's mouth gaped at the air, as if trying to find the correct words to explain her thoughts. Heejin could understand that. "I am… indebted to Chanwoo for a- favor that he granted me years ago." Her voice tremored. "I have no choice but to return it to him."

"A favor…" Heejin frowned lightly, allowing her thoughts to flow from her mouth, "what did he do that deserved your cooperation in whatever he is doing?"

"I’m sure you have been around Hyunjin long enough to understand that Jinsoul was put underground."

The sudden change in conversation almost made irritation rise in Heejin's chest, but she restrained herself from lashing out unnecessarily by tugging against the chains and allowing herself to focus on the metal digging into the skin of her wrists. Truly, she barely knew anything that had to do with the vampires around Hyunjin. She only knew some pieces of information that were too nonsensical for her to put together, so she had mostly been running off of assumptions this whole time.

Still, she nodded to allow Yerim to carry on with her explanation.

"Back then, the only people that I had were Jinsoul and Kim Lip," she began with a nostalgic voice, melancholy dripping from every syllable, "and even then, Kim Lip would never replace what Jinsoul was to me. She was my creator, the one who had rescued me from harm’s way." Heejin remembered Gowon's monologue when she had listed off Yerim's backstory. (Now she understood exactly how the deity knew so much about the vampire.) "To have my creator taken away from me- ripped from my reach when I was just young- it can do things to a sanguisuge. Things that are just... irrational and stupid and so... I became… desperate." She sounded sorrowful, regretting everything that had happened in her past that led her to that point. "I would do anything- anything to get my creator back. And that included turning to higher forces that would let… that would free Jinsoul from where she was being held captive. And at the time, Chanwoo possessed a power that had only been spoken of as if it were mythical. You have already met Gowon."

Heejin startled at that name. "Chanwoo knew Gowon? How?" As far as she knew, Chaewon had been the host for the deity all this time.

"He… he’s not… human." Those words only made Heejin's stomach turn over on itself and begin to churn around. The idea of someone else in her life having the ability to hurt her so easily and mercilessly made her sick to her soul. "I mean, without Gowon’s powers, he is human, but he didn’t- doesn’t really come from a natural family background. Have you heard of reincarnation?"

Blinking, Heejin tried to wrap her mind around that idea. It wasn't something that she strictly believed in, but she had considered the idea once or twice when pondering about the mysteries of the universe. "Yeah…"

"As far as I know, his soul took over someone else’s body, and that’s how he came to be on earth. Along with Gowon’s powers."

It was a rushed explanation, but Heejin couldn't really question it. She had no idea that something like that was even possible, but after everything that had happened in her life she wasn't really about to close off the possibility. "But then… why does Chaewon have them now?"

As if Yerim's expression couldn't get any darker, Heejin watched as a cloud passed over her entire face and cast a look of grief over her downcast eyes. "Chaewon... she’s the same as me." Heejin had first handedly witnessed the bond that the two girls shared, and although she had found it rather peculiar that they knew one another due to Yerim's background, she couldn't deny that they did share some sort of comradery. Never had she expected it to be cause by something this... fucked up. But she supposed that there was little that could be done to change the past. "She is also indebted to Chanwoo in ways you won’t be able to understand."

"How?" Heejin pushed.

"I didn’t lie to you when I said I met Chaewon when she was in middle school." The reminder that that conversation had happened only several days prior made bitterness rise in Heejin's chest, but she merely ignored it. "Actually, she was only at the age of twelve when I met her for the first time... in the hospital, on the brink of death, diagnosed with a cancer too complicated for me to understand."

Shock rendered Heejin silent.

"Her family... couldn’t support for her. Wouldn’t support for her." Yerim said it with such factuality that Heejin wondered if this was something normal for her. If she had heard so many similar stories that she just became entirely desensitized to it. "In fact, one of the reasons why Chanwoo chose her in particular was... that she had no ties. No one would remember her if she passed. No one would particularly... care."

The lack of emotion in Yerim's voice was nauseating.

Even the idea that something like that could truly happen to a person made Heejin feel absolute hatred towards the world.

"That’s... disgusting."

Despite her silence, Heejin could see in the scowl on Yerim's face that she agreed with her claim. "Chanwoo would take me to visit her. He made her trust him by using me. Gave her a reason to live by telling her all of the potential that she had in her. And he took me to her when she died at the age of thirteen."

An unsettling silence set between them.

Yerim had said it so bluntly that it almost felt like a slap to the face.

The idea that... Chaewon had died. She had died not at the hands of a horrible vampire, or by the claws of that mutant that had tried to kill her the other day, but at the hands of a cancer. It made whatever hatred Heejin harbored for her wash away entirely.

"I still don’t know the details of it but... black magic is a powerful thing." Yerim didn't need to say that twice. Heejin had witnessed how Hyejoo had used it in her favor. "Gowon needed a host, and she could only enter someone’s body if their host soul has left first. After that, it was up to Gowon whether she wanted to use Chaewon as a host or not, and it seems like she did because she brought her soul back."

Heejin took her time to process everything. To mull over her words. Momentarily, she doubted whether or not she could trust Yerim's word after her recent dishonesty, but she quickly concluded that this was the only thing that would keep her from going insane.

Just when she had been wallowing in her own self-pity, she found that she wasn't the only one with struggles and pain in her life. And it made her feel like a horrible human being.

"So all this time, she’s just... she’s known?" Heejin leaned back, her back aching from her position.

Yerim remained mum.

"What did she..." Heejin quickly rephrased. "What did Chanwoo want with Hyunjin?"

With her head bowed, Yerim continued to just blankly stare at the concrete ground.

"How is Hyunjin involved in all of this?"

"Heejin, I have already said too much-"

"Please, Yerim." Desperation clouded Heejin's voice, and she tugged forward once more, trying to catch Yerim's eye. "I need to know if Hyunjin is in danger."

As if pained, Yerim looked up at her through her eyelashes. "I-I can’t... if I say any more..." For a moment, it seemed like she considered extending her explanation, but just as quickly as she considered it she shut it down. "I can’t. I’ve said too much-"

"Indeed you have."

Heejin's blood ran cold.

All color disappeared from Yerim's face at the sound of the voice. Her shoulders immediately tensed up on reflex. Panic overcame her features.

She didn't think that she'd ever been more terrified of someone before. Even when Chanwoo just walked towards them with a seemingly open, and pitiful expression, he still held an air around him that screamed danger. His hands were tucked in the pockets of his trousers as always, and his top button of his shirt was undone as if he had just returned from school.

It made Heejin's heart stop in her chest the more she realized that she had been around this man for years and all of this time he had been... inhuman.

Sick.

"I have to say, Yerimmie... I am slightly disappointed." His voice didn't betray his words, though that was what made it even more terrifying for them both. The way that his eyebrows arched to make his expression sorrowful was almost too exaggerated. "I thought that we had reached that point where I could trust you with our secrets but... it seems like we just haven’t bonded as much as I thought we had."

Voice trembling, Yerim quietly said, "Chanwoo..."

"I’m sorry, but you knew what would happen if you broke the rules." He sounded reluctant, though judging by the way he talked over Yerim's quiet denials, he left no room for an explanation. "I’m sorry, Yerim-ah..."

For a moment, Heejin believed his words. He truly looked apologetic towards Yerim, as if her slight betrayal had hurt him like it had hurt Heejin. Some twisted part of Heejin related to him in a way in that moment.

In front of her, Yerim began to scream.

She screamed like she was in harsh, deep pain, and it made Heejin jolt against her chains reflexively to move towards her and try to help her out of the situation. Because deep down, she still cared for Yerim in that way that she viewed her as the sister that she never had.

"Stop!" Heejin tore her eyes away from Yerim's crumpled body and towards Chanwoo, who watched with an upset expression. "Please stop, I- I forced her to tell me!" At her words, the man momentarily shifted his eyes towards her and his expression was wiped completely. It made goosebumps rise on Heejin's skin at the complete one-eighty. "Just stop!"

As she had requested, Yerim's screaming stopped. Her body was heaving up and down, and her hands were coiled in on themselves against the concrete floor.

Heejin tugged against the chains to try and reach out to her, but found that all she gained in response was a stinging pain up her arms and even more frustration at being chained up.

Chanwoo's blank expression remained etched onto his features. His eyes were dark, as if his eyelids cast a shadow too large over his almost black eyes. The way his mouth was set caused his skin to fold into a reserved grimace, distaste on his face as if he too didn't particularly enjoy watching Yerim being tortured. Though that made no sense since it was him that had the power to control whether or not Yerim would be suffering.

"Run along, Yerim-ah." His voice was as cold as his movements as he stepped towards Heejin. The term of endearment was almost sadistic. "It seems like me and Ms. Jeon have a lot to discuss."

Heejin's mouth went dry.

Nothing good would come out of this.

-  
April 26th, 2001

Jeon Jaejin came from a humbled background.

His parents raised him to strive be the best in everything that he did to be able to support them in the future, just as they raised the rest of their children. Fortunately for Jaejin, his parents sacrificed everything that they had possible for him and his siblings to be able to go to the best schools in the country. Unfortunately for his parents, the only thing that he had ever wanted was to live in a house where they all didn't have to share a room, and to have shoes that weren't falling apart at the seams, and to be able to attend parent-teacher conferences without being embarrassed of his parents.

Seen as an easy target by the rest of the fourteen-year-olds who were privileged with wealthy parents and expensive shoes, he became the focus of their torment. The only way he could find shelter was to stick with those that would accept him despite his background -- which lead him to meeting the son of a well-known politician in need of a right hand man.

It was only when his mother quietly passed away when he was sixteen due to being unable to frequently visit the hospital for the expensive treatment that would cure her illness that his view on the world began to change.

Invigorated by the tragedy in his life, Jaejin began to focus more intensely on the biological part of his studies. He took the chances that were given to him as selfishly as his father wanted him to and strived to become someone that both of his parents would be proud of. His friend's father took one look at his potential and immediately hired him in the scientific research department that the country's government had been working hard to form for the past several years.

Right before his first pay check, his father passed away. His medical report read heart attack due to cardiovascular disease.

At the age of twenty-two, he met Kang Chanhee. A shared interest in the development of the country's knowledge of biological aspects of human beings and other creatures led to conversation after conversation, until they were no longer sharing words about the human body but talking about how they liked their coffee in the morning, to their upbringing in the past. Two years later and the two were married and expecting their first child.

Their only child.

Jeon Heejin.

Nothing in his life had ever prepared Jaejin for the emotions that would swell in his chest the first time his little girl held his thumb, her small fingers barely wrapping around it. And to think that he could almost see his mother's eyes in his daughter's only made him squeeze his child closer to his chest.

He promised to himself that he would do everything in his power to give his little girl the life that he had wished for himself.

Only six months into Heejin's fresh, fragile life, his friend who had assumed his father's position in the government contacted him under the guise of it being an 'emergency'. So, with a kiss to his wife and daughter's foreheads, he set off to meet the politician in the outskirts of the city, in front of the country's hidden research facility.

There, his friend introduced him to something that would change his life. Something revolutionary and ground-breaking.

"Studying into this could mean a lot to the president, Jaejin," his friend said, a hand clasped on his shoulder to keep him from shaking. "It could change the country's future."

"I have a family, Dongwoo..."

The man who had been by his side for almost half of his life just smiled knowingly. "We will pay generously. You will never again have to worry about reaching the quota for your place's rent, or paying off your debts or taxes." He squeezed his friend's shoulder, the excitement evident in his expression. "You can give Heejin the whole world."

It didn't take much to convince him after that. His little girl was his number one priority, and he would do anything in the world to be able to keep that small, bubbly smile on her face for the rest of her life. He would be able to do what his parents did for him.

With the new job offer accepted, he soon became wrapped up in the heavy workload needed to be completed at deadlines almost unimaginable. The stress was dying the strands of his hair gray, and his body became too weak to even lift himself from his armchair at the end of a long night. Constantly he wondered if it was ever worth it to sacrifice his own health over such rigorous work, but then he remembered what his parents had sacrificed for his own well-being and how thankful he was to them for that. So with the thought of his daughter's beautiful grin on his mind, he pushed on into the early hours of the morning.

"Just watch her for a while," his wife cupped the side of his fatigued face lovingly. "I haven't seen my friends since she was born, and you haven't held her since you started working on that project."

Jaejin wearily placed his hand over hers. This wasn't the first time that they had discussed him spending time with their daughter, though usually all conversations tended to end in the same place.

"You know, she calls me 'Mama' now."

But one teasing look from his wife and he was left defenseless against the thought that he had missed his daughter's first words.

When he took a look at Heejin, now being able to sit upright by herself playing with the toys that they had bought with the money that his paychecks brought, regret filled his entire body. The last time he had truly looked at his daughter was when she was still struggling to keep the weight of her head upright and could barely even string two syllables together.

"Hey baby..." Tiredly, he sat himself in front of the small girl with several struggling groans. Heejin didn't react, still concentrated on trying to get her hands to coordinate with how she wanted to pick up one of the colorful blocks in front of her. "I heard you've actually been talking to you mom now."

He watched as Heejin's chubby hands barely managed to pick up the block that happened to be lying by his foot, lifting it with a straight arm as if she didn't know how to bend it properly. Curiously, he allowed himself to become fixated on his daughter's face. When her big, warm, brown eyes moved from the yellow block in her hand to look him dead in the eye, Jaejin felt his heart stop beating in his chest. The way that his heart immediately doubled in size was almost inexplicable, and tears pricked the back of his eyes.

"Ah." Heejin clumsily threw the block at his chest.

Barely managing to catch the material with his hands, he looked back at his daughter with wide eyes. His little girl's face brightened into a wide, unabashed grin, giggles bursting out of her small body.

A small smile made itself present on Jaejin's face as he watched her reach to pick up a red block, her face reverting back to that look of concentration. Despite the light color of her eyebrows, he could still see the slight frown that had made itself apparent on her face as she focussed solely on picking up the block in front of her. It was the most adorable thing he had ever seen, and it made his heart beat faster in his chest at the thought that this was his daughter. This was his little girl.

"Wah." Heejin said again, the block managing to hit Jaejin in the knee.

"What are you trying to do, you little rascal?" Jaejin reached out with his hands to tickle at her sides, only for Heejin to burst out into bubbling giggles. The sound was enough for him to become even more enamored with his daughter, pulling her into his lap and hugging her tightly. His chin rested comfortably on the top of her head, rocking them back and forth. "You know that your dad has missed you, right?"

When Heejin began squirming in his hold, he loosened his grip on her and allowed her lean back. Jaejin quickly provided support for her back when she began tipping backwards, not having gained a proper sense of control of her balance yet. With her hands, she reached up and clumsily hit his face.

"Ack." He leaned away from her offending hands, pulling a funny face on purpose to make her laugh. When he succeeded, he laughed along with her and let himself fall back against their living room floor, her weight resting on his stomach. "You're a little troublemaker, you."

"Ah." Heejin hit him in the face again, only for him to react just as his little girl wanted him to. She burst out laughing again, and this time he watched her fondly. There was something in the way that she did so that reminded him of his late mother whenever she would smile.

"Jinnie, say 'dadda'." He tickled her under her chin with his forefinger, trying to get her attention back on him. Instead, his daughter began looking for a way to climb down from his stomach. "Heejin-ah, say 'dadda'. 'Da-dda'."

"Wah."

Jaejin sighed and let the little girl roll off of him onto the living room floor to crawl to one of her stuffed toys. He watched her with a fond grin as she tugged one of the toy's paws into her mouth, chewing with her recently grown out teeth. From where he was lying, he could watch how his daughter began to explore her sense of touch and taste. He knew that she would do great things in the future. He would make sure of it.

-

When Jeon Chanhee came back from a night out with her friends, she melted at the sight of her husband strewn across their large couch with their daughter curled up on his chest. The fact that the couch was large enough to seat ten people at once yet the both of them were compiled together on one corner with identical expressions on their sleeping faces made her swoon at the sight. It was impossible not to when the two most important people in her life were right there in front of her, waiting for her to come home.

Quietly, she took her heels off and padded over to where her husband was softly snoring.

"Babe," she fondly whispered out to him, doing her best not to disturb the sleepy girl on his chest, "let's get her to bed."

Groggily, Jaejin managed to peek out through baggy eyelids and up at her. He always pulled the same face whenever he woke up from a dream of his, and it made her glad that she could still remember exactly what it had looked like when they had first started seeing each other.

What took her by surprise was the grin that spread across his face. It was rejuvenated and alive and bursting with emotions that had been buried under the weight of the workload he'd been trying to keep up with, and it made her heart skip a beat at the familiar sight of it. With that same boyish, drowsy grin, he whispered back up at her, "she called me 'dadda'."

Warmth and affection took over her as she watched him look at their daughter in fascination, his hopes and dreams for her visible in the glint in his eyes. She knew exactly how he was feeling, because she felt the same whenever she discovered new quirks that Heejin possessed. They both loved and cherished her with everything that they had, and had already mutually decided that they would do anything to make her have a good, stable future ahead of her. Their little girl's happiness was their source of happiness.

And if that meant for Chanhee to encourage their baby to say 'dadda' every hour she spent with her just to see that youthful smile on her husband's face, then it was more than worth it.

-

"I am tired, human. Why do you do this?"

"I-I'm not... I just want to help..."

"Must you? It is not our obligation."

"...We don't have to do things out of obligation, Gowon. That's not the way to live..."

"And who are you to tell me how to live?"

Silence.

Heejin's head was spinning lightly, as if on a wheel slowly turning her around and around.

"Besides, I am not responsible for what is happening to her. It's her own fault for so easily believing in Choerry's words when they were so half-baked that got her in this situation."

When her senses began slowly coming back to her, she could feel the side of her face aching where she had been struck several times. It hadn't exactly been the nicest experience, though not the worse that could have happened to her.

A few feet away from her, shoes scuffed the concrete. "You know that I am right."

Heejin lifted her head from where her chin had been resting on her chest, feeling the soreness all over her neck. She'd had a habit of falling asleep on her desk during school, so she knew all about waking up with knots on her upper back and neck, but she didn't think that it had ever been as bad as the pain shooting up her spine right now.

"Human... answer me."

Blearily, Heejin could just about make out the blonde figure leaning her weight onto one of her legs. Had she not been dressed in her school uniform, Heejin easily could have mistaken her for someone else entirely. But judging from the 'bitchy' aura she exuded, there was no doubt about it that she was currently looking at Gowon.

"Human, you are being petty. I merely stated the truth."

It was strange, because the deity seemed to be talking to herself. There was no one else around for her to be possibly talking to, and Heejin preferred for it to stay that way. (She wasn't very eager to see Chanwoo and his short temper again -- not after she had been hit multiple times for not answering his bizarre questions.) Still, Gowon spoke with frustration clearly evident in her voice, and she didn't look like she had a phone in her hand to be conversing with someone on the other line.

"Fine." Gowon growled out loud, spinning on her heel flamboyantly. "Just know that this is the only time I will be doing something like this for you."

Heejin boredly looked up at the blonde, who was walking towards her with purpose in her steps. She was about to say something to her -- to tick her off -- but her appearance begun to glow like it had back at Jinsoul's house and the roots of her hair began to tinge a dark color. Watching through squinted eyes, she could see how the previously golden blonde hair turned a glossy, sleek black and the turquoise irises reverted back to the normal brown. Even the way the girl held herself morphed into something more timid, the steps that she took slower and more unsure than they had been just seconds ago.

Judging by the way the girl refused to look at Heejin directly in the eye, she knew that she was looking at Chaewon.

Wordlessly, Chaewon grabbed some materials from the plastic table that had several notebooks and a computer placed atop of it. Her movements were clumsy and shaky, just as how Heejin had familiarized herself with. It was familiar and slightly comforting despite everything.

The silence between them was too tense for Heejin to be able to break, somehow finding it more daunting than talking to Gowon herself. For some reason, the anxiety that ran through her veins around Chaewon was much worse than when she was talking to Chanwoo or Yerim. She wasn't sure why she wasn't able to just call out to her as casually as she had done earlier, but she hated the fact that her tongue became too big in her mouth.

Chaewon crouched in front of her with what looked like a first aid kit, a bottle of disinfectant, and strangely enough: a tupperware.

"Uhm..." Her light voice was weak and a little too high-pitched. After a cough, Chaewon nervously looked away. "Hi..."

Blinking, Heejin just stared at Chaewon. For some reason, she held no remorse towards her for what was happening to her. It could be for what Yerim had told her about her past, and how she realized that the girl simply had had no choice in the matter, or it could be because there was still guilt eating her up from the inside for what she had said to her two days ago. She could still remember the expression that the small girl had pulled when she had spat those horrible words out at her, and it made her think of herself as nothing more than a monster.

Awkward as always, Chaewon's finger fumbled with the box in her hands until it spilled onto the floor. A small squeak escaped her lips as bandages and plasters began rolling and jumping out.

Out of reflex, Heejin moved to help collect the stray items. The chains made a loud ringing sound that stung in her eardrums (her hearing hadn't exactly been the same in her left ear after being slapped so many times) and she felt a wildly piercing sensation on the inside of her wrists.

"S-sorry," Chaewon mumbled when she heard her hiss to cope with the pain, panic in her eyes as she did her best to gather the items again. "I-I-" Instead of saying anything, she shut herself up and focussed more intently on the first aid kit despite having put everything back in its place. Even after everything that had happened, Chaewon still seemed to be the same insecure girl that Heejin had first met.

"It's okay." Heejin tried her best not to move her mouth too much, the swelling on her cheek making the movement of her face stiff. When the girl didn't react to her croaks, Heejin tried to reach out to tap her thigh with her foot. "Chaewon." When she had her attention, big eyes wide-blown and innocent, Heejin settled her with a firm stare. "It's okay."

With a pinkish hue on her cheeks, Chaewon quickly bowed her head again. "I'm sorry, Heejin-ssi... I didn't want this to happen." Meekly, her hands played with the hem of her school skirt. She ran the material through her fingers and rubbed at the hem with the pads of her thumbs. Heejin could faintly see blisters and cuts coating the soft skin from what she assumed was the fight that had taken place at Jinsoul's house. "Choi-seongsaengnim said that it was part of the plan, and I thought that it wasn't going to be anything too bad but... but then everything started going wrong and I had to go along with it. It's my fault. I'm so sorry."

An apology was what Heejin had been looking for ever since she ended up shackled up and stabbed in the leg, but now that she got one it didn't make her feel better. In fact, it only made her feel ten times worse.

Chaewon was sincere with her emotions, and it added more guilt onto Heejin's shoulders at the thought that she had truly disliked her at first.

"I'm sorry, Chaewon."

Startled, the small girl's jaw dropped. "Wh-what? What for?"

Heejin lolled her head to the side, the weight of her head on her sore neck making her head spin even more. "The other day... I said stupid things." The words were sticky in her mouth. She had never been in a situation where she had to apologize for being an outright bitch for no reason, and she didn't think that she enjoyed it. But she understood that it had to be done. "I took out my feelings on you when I shouldn't have and I... made you cry..." At the mention of it, Chaewon's posture stiffened up. "You didn't deserve that. So I'm sorry."

She couldn't see Chaewon's face. For a moment she thought she had done something wrong, but then she heard a sniffle and saw Chaewon's shoulders shake.

"Are you... are you crying?" Heejin pulled against the chains and grimaced. (She would have to stop doing that.) "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

A soft laugh is what stopped her from talking. It wasn't particularly happy, nor was it very light-hearted, but it was something that told her that Chaewon knew that it hadn't been her intention to make her cry. "It's okay... I don't even think that what you did is half as bad as what I've done..."

Heejin pursed her lips. She couldn't really dispute that statement when she had seen exactly what had happened with Gowon, but she also didn't want Chaewon to feel guilty for something that was out of her control. After all, the girl hadn't really asked for a deity to enter her body and make her hurt the people that she cared about.

"Can I... take care of your cut?" Chaewon shyly referred to her bandaged up leg, which had been messily done earlier by Chaewon when Heejin was still too angry to acknowledge anything so she had tried kicking her the whole time.

Looking at the blood-stained bandage now reminded her of the burning sensation in her leg, and she realized that if she didn't have it properly treated then the chances of it becoming infected would be high. And judging by how Chanwoo was talking to her earlier, she doubted that he would actually have the guts to take her to the hospital in the condition she was in. So she figured that she should at least let Chaewon do her best to try and heal her, because dying due to an infection when she was living in a world full of vampires would be the lamest death. (At least that's what her friends would have said.)

Carefully, Chaewon began to take away the bandage from her leg. By alleviating the pressure, it made the nerves in her leg go numb. She wasn't sure if that was a normal reaction she should be having, but she preferred it over the dull throbbing that had persistently chased away her sleep last night.

It was an ugly wound -- something that didn't look like it should even be on someone's body -- but Heejin forced herself to look at it for any weird discoloration. Even Chaewon grimaced at the sight of it.

Heejin wanted to ask if she knew what she was doing, but judging by the shaking of her fingers she knew that if she even asked, the girl would break.

She wasn't expecting much (nothing like what Haseul's expertise had shown) but Chaewon seemed to more or less know her way around cleaning the wound. At times, Heejin found herself clenching her fists due to the wound being sensitive to touch. However, she knew that if she showed any verbal signs of distress it would put Chaewon off entirely. Thankfully, her pain tolerance seemed to be higher than average, so she was able to handle it better than she had expected.

When Chaewon finished up by tying the new bandage around her thigh, Heejin let out the breath she had been holding.

"Is-is that okay?" The small girl pushed away the first aid kit and sat back on her heels. Absently, she fixed Heejin's skirt for her, which had ridden up during her struggle. Her eyes did a full-body check of her, and they widened slightly when they reached her arms. "You're bleeding."

Heejin hadn't even noticed the blood sliding down her wrists, but now that Chaewon had mentioned it, she could feel the layers of dried blood under the new coat trickling down to her elbows. "It doesn't really hurt that much..." Even she knew that that sounded like a lie, but if she were being truthful then the pain on her wrists wasn't as bad as the pain in her leg, which was probably why it had been so easy to ignore.

Ignoring her words, Chaewon still began to wipe away the blood anyway. There was a concerned frown on her face that made Heejin feel slightly confused.

Why was Chaewon being so nice to her?

"What's in that tupperware?" Heejin asked to get rid of the thoughts in her mind. She had no time to be mistrusting the person that was currently helping her.

Chaewon startled slightly, her glance uneasily shaking when she looked at said container. The faintest smiles graced her weary face, and Heejin almost found herself forgetting about the situation with how natural it looked. Without looking at her in the eye, Chaewon leaned back from her left arm and gently placed down the now bloodied wipe so that she could reach for it. "I, uhm... Yerim told me that eating pineapple helps whenever you get bruises." She sounded embarrassed over the small fact, though she looked slightly pleased with herself for having thought of the idea. "I don't really... know how it works, but... I thought better safe than sorry, right?"

Heejin blankly stared at her.

Widening her eyes, Chaewon nervously put the container down. "Un-unless you don't like pineapple." She quickly turned to put it away. "That's fine too... not everyone likes it-"

"I like it." Heejin cut her off before she could delve into her own thoughts even further. She had only realized it when she had been in between being unconscious and conscious, but she hadn't eaten anything for the past couple of days and she was starving. Even if it was just a little bit of fruit, she would take it.

"Ah..." Chaewon sheepishly bowed her head and shuffled closer to her. "Well, uhm. I-I can feed you?"

"Yes, because I can just use the force to levitate food into my mouth." Heejin teasingly looked at Chaewon, the sarcasm obvious enough for her not to misunderstand.

Blushing at herself, Chaewon proceeded to feed her the fruit. At the sweet scent that reached her nose, Heejin's stomach rumbled. She barely had any time to feel embarrassed about it when she was busy scarfing down whatever Chaewon put in her mouth, trying to savor the juice as she hadn't had much to drink lately. Strangely enough, it gave her a little bit of energy for her to actually open her eyes instead of having to peer through lidded glares. Pineapple may have been her favorite food in that moment.

As she looked at Chaewon's thoughtful expression while she munched on the piece of fruit, thoughts about what Chanwoo had asked her crossed her mind.

He had asked her things as if she was supposed to know the answers to them. Things about what the government's plans were, or what her parents had been working on and if it had actually worked. Heejin had no idea when he spoke about 'testing' and 'bioengineered weapons', and more complex words that she could barely make any sense of. (It was at these moments that she wished she had Hyunjin's brain, so then she'd at least be able to understand what he was trying to get her to say.) Even when he asked about a special passcode as if she knew it by heart, she just stared blankly back at him.

Despite not knowing anything, she had a feeling that if she did and he asked, she still wouldn't tell him anything. The way he was so desperate to find out just made her more wary of the value of the information.

Just what had her parents been up to?

And what was he up to?

She knew that the traitor that Gowon had been referring to was Yerim, but why would Yerim do that? Why was Yerim even infiltrating that particular group of people?

"Does Hyunjin have anything to do with this?"

Chaewon's hand halted in mid-air. Her face paled when she processed the words, and it looked like she had just seen a ghost pass right in front of her. It seemed that the trigger had been Hyunjin's name, and Heejin knew that the girl had some sort of feelings for her, but it wasn't enough to explain why Chaewon looked like she wanted to run away from there.

The silence was more than enough to confirm her thoughts. Hyunjin had a part to play in this. That explained why she reacted the way she had when they were fighting against Gowon.

"I..." When the pineapple almost fell from the small wooden pick she had been using to feed her, the girl scrambled to put it back into the container to avoid a spillage. Hiding behind a curtain of hair, Chaewon dutifully packed up the tupperware and played with it in her lap. It seemed almost an eternity before she spoke once more, Heejin almost thinking that they were going to stay that way for the rest of the day. "I had no choice."

A frown took over Heejin's features. "No choice...?" Chaewon didn't react, though it wasn't like Heejin had expected her to immediately open up. "No choice about what, Chaewon?"

Shoulders pulling together, Chaewon clutched harder onto the plastic with white fingers. "I-we..."

"I'm not going to be mad at you," Heejin assured despite not knowing whether or not she would be able to stick by her words, "you can tell me. You don't have to keep it in if you don't want to."

Tension paralyzed Chaewon to her spot. She was struggling to come up with words, and Heejin could barely blame her. "Gowon can feel her." She revealed, though it sounded like she hadn't meant to say that out loud. "Wha-what I mean is- Gowon can listen into Hyunjin's mind."

Sickness washed over Heejin. "What?" It felt wrong. She didn't like that. She didn't like that thought at all.

"The reason why Hyunjin attacked you... it was because Gowon told her to." Chaewon was so quiet that Heejin had to lean forward to catch her words, but even then it was difficult through the way her voice shook. "She can have an influence over Hyunjin because she linked to her... since a month ago, actually..."

Shaking her head, Heejin tried to organize her thoughts. "How is that- is that even a thing?" She couldn't keep the outrage from her voice, and it scared Chaewon further back in on herself. "Sorry, but- this has been going on for a month?"

"Hyunjin drank my blood." Chaewon muttered.

The emotions that rushed through Heejin's body almost physically pushed her to the ground.

Thoughts of Hyunjin drinking from her neck filled her mind, and she remembered exactly how intimate the whole thing had been. It had felt like something that was between the two of them -- something that could link them to one another on a deeper, more profound level. The idea that Hyunjin had shared a moment like that with someone else -- with someone as beautiful as Chaewon -- it made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. It made the anger and jealousy she thought had disappeared rise back up again.

Taking note on the change of her emotions, Chaewon panickedly shook her hands out. "Not in the way that you're thinking." Her voice was louder, as if trying to speak over Heejin's poisoned thoughts. "A month ago- or around that time- Choi-seongsaengnim told me to go to a woman who was collecting blood. He said that she was a human working with a sanguisuge that had close ties to Jung Jinsol, and that the blood that she collected she gave to her to drink." Chaewon took a deep breath, having said everything in a rush. "But- the thing about my blood is that... it's not very... drinkable?" She herself sounded confused about her words. "A-at least not for normal sanguisuge. It was supposed to kill that sanguisuge when the human gave it to her, and then Jung Jinsol would find out that her friend was poisoned and she would turn against the syndicate-"

"You tried to kill Hyunjin?" Heejin's face was dark.

"No!" Chaewon was panicking again, though judging by the indignation in her frown she seemed to be telling the truth. "No, Hyunjin wasn't the target. It just happened to be that she ended up drinking the blood instead of the sanguisuge that was supposed to- and it ruined seongsaeng's plans."

Heejin squinted, trying to make sense of everything in her head. "But you said that your blood is poison... Hyunjin didn't die."

Chaewon's face became neutral. It seemed like she had said something that had triggered her. "Not exactly." Her voice was quiet, though it didn't sound as if she were scared. "Going by what Gowon said, Hyunjin should have died when she drank our blood. We didn't even know that Hyunjin had been the one to drink it until she appeared in Gowon's mind scape. Which shouldn't have even been possible because a deity's mind scape is in the upper world, and Gowon said that only deities can access that."

Heejin had no idea what she was talking about, but she tried to nod along to it.

"After that, Gowon could tap into Hyunjin's mind whenever she wanted to, and she realized that there was a way for her to be able to influence what Hyunjin did and thought." Chaewon's hands tightened around each other. "Seongsaengnim said we could use this to our advantage since Hyunjin was close to Jung Jinsol, too. There was no need to create a rift between Jung Jinsol and the syndicate when she had already done so by herself by breaking the law, so seongsaengnim decided to take a different angle to make sure that the syndicate was completely destroyed by the end of it-"

Chaewon's mouth snapped shut. A look of pain crossed her face.

Heejin startled at the abrupt stop in conversation. "Chaewon, are you okay?"

"You are the stupidest human I have ever encountered."

For a moment, Heejin felt offended that Chaewon had said that. But she registered the lilt to her words and the way she pronounced her sentence and realized that it was Gowon talking. And not to her.

"Do you want her to know everything? I should take over-" Chaewon grunted and gripped tightly at her skirt until her knuckles turned white. "No. I'm sorry, I won't say anything else."

After breathing heavily for a moment, Chaewon pushed her hair back behind her ears. Her forehead was slightly glistened with sweat from the strain of trying to stay in control, and her eyes were shaking slightly as she met Heejin's worried eyes.

Still, what Chaewon had been saying seemed to be important. It sounded like there was something more to Chanwoo's plan that she needed to know for the sake of the others. But judging by the unwilling expression on Chaewon's face, she wasn't going to get anymore details about what his intentions were.

But... maybe if she tried a different angle too...

"You said Jinsoul's name a lot..." Heejin observed, pretending to be steering away from the topic. "What does she have to do with Chanwoo?"

Fortunately, Chaewon took the bait.

The words had slipped her mouth before Gowon could even stop her.

"Jung Jinsol? She's the reason why Choi-seongsaengnim is doing this."

Chaewon's face was full of innocence as she said the next words.

"She is his lover."


	23. twenty-three

_At the mention of her name, Jinsoul's head struggled to turn. She let it fall against her shoulder weakly so that her gaze would naturally land on her, and Hyunjin felt whatever emotions and thoughts that had been running through her mind still. Nothing seemed to matter anymore with the overwhelming amount of affection that was radiating from Jinsoul's expression as she looked at her, and despite everything that was happening Hyunjin's chest warmed with the love that she held for her creator._

_The smallest twitch in the corner of her lip allowed Hyunjin to receive one of Jinsoul's smiles before her whole world decided to fall apart right in front of her._

_"That is punishable by death." ___

__-_ _

__

__17:56_ _

__Of all of the things that her life could have amounted to, it all boiled down to this. Broken and chained up like a dog._ _

__The small room they had her in was more of a cell, with heavy stone bricks building up the walls around her and the door that had been closed in her face made out of a material that looked too thick to even try to push through. It collapsed in on itself and suffocated her, her heavy breathing ricocheting off of the surfaces to drown her in the loud sound._ _

__She wanted to get out._ _

__She had to get out._ _

__

__-_ _

__

__13:26_ _

__"Stop right there!"_ _

__Guns were aimed at every part of her body as she tried running towards Jinsoul, who's smile had been wiped from her face when she saw what she was doing. If she made any hasty movements, or did anything that came off as aggressive and potentially dangerous, then her blood would most likely end up painting the temple grounds._ _

__Sanguisuges began to talk loudly amongst themselves; questions about who she was and what she thought she was doing circulated the court. From where the lords and ladies were sat, Vivi stood from her seat with an expression of pure horror. Hyunjin didn't think she had ever seen her look so scared in the time that she had known her, and to see it being displayed so openly made her stomach lurch painfully. It was only more motivation for what she was trying to do._ _

__Hyunjin wanted nothing more than to burst through the resistance that Jungeun's deathly grip on her arm and the guns provided her, wanting to be able to comfort -- to touch -- Jinsoul when she looked like she had just walked through hell and back. It wasn't even something that sourced from her care and worry for the blonde. No, this was a necessity that she needed to have met, otherwise she was positive that she would lose her mind when she knew it would be the most unwise thing for her to do in a situation as bleak as this one. And Jinsoul had not taught her to be like that._ _

__"Revert back to your position, sanguisuge." The voice of one of the Elders standing from her seat commanded her._ _

__With spite and annoyance, Hyunjin easily met the pink glare with her own devilish, yellow one. "Lift the death sentence and I will do as you ask."_ _

__With her words, the temperature dropped._ _

__The Elder's expression was blank and successfully stoic, but the sudden silence was enough for Hyunjin to assume that her retort had taken her by surprise. The likeliness that she had never had someone snap back at her so defiantly was high, judging by the respect the other sanguisuges had treated the Elders with. But Hyunjin payed no mind to it when the only person she truly respected was so helplessly kneeling in front of them._ _

__"Last warning." The words were frosty, resembling stabbing icicles that could have easily cut into her had they been materialized. There was no traces of hesitation in the steady stare, and Hyunjin knew this well enough._ _

__But-_ _

__"Your laws are stupid," Hyunjin spat, no remorse in how she stepped forward despite the desperate tugs Jungeun was doing to hold her back. "You kill without mercy- you don't listen to the defendant's case, and your eagerness to eliminate the threat is loud and clear. You-"_ _

__"I suggest you watch your words, sanguisuge." Another Elder stood from beside the female one, an irritated look on his face. His glare was sharp, and his hands clenched around what appeared to be an old dagger at his hip. "You will not disrespect the position of the Elders unless you wish to suffer the same fate as your creator."_ _

__Deep down, Hyunjin wouldn't have minded having just that happen. Just because spite motivated her and she didn't want to give into them. But that wasn't what Jinsoul wanted for her, so that wasn't something that she should do._ _

__Frantically, she tried searching for a viable solution. Another loophole in their laws. In the laws that Jinsoul had built herself._ _

__Her mind ran back to those nights spent learning about the nature of the relationship between the syndicate and the government. There had always been tension since the days where either species preyed on one another, but after the peace treaty was made it had decreased significantly. After Jinsoul had been put into the ground, she had lost track of what the relations between the two were. Though from what Vivi had been telling her through rumors floating around the sanguisuge community, the tension was only increasing day by day. So much so that the syndicate had begun to train their sanguisuge for war._ _

__Right, humans and sanguisuge had bad blood between them._ _

__But she wasn't human -- at least not anymore._ _

__And she also wasn't a sanguisuge._ _

__Remembering how she had been so easily possessed by Gowon's words, she thought back to how it had felt to be under that trance. She could barely remember anything that had taken place during that short time period, but she vaguely remembered entering a state of mind where all she could smell was the fresh fields of grass and the sunlight on her skin._ _

__Jinsoul's words came back into her mind, reminding her of whenever they had playfully wrestled. Hyunjin had always come out on top, and Jinsoul had mentioned how that shouldn't be possible due to the difference in their age defining the amount of strength that each sanguisuge possessed._ _

__She had deity blood in her veins._ _

__And she could use it to her advantage._ _

__"You're making a mistake." Hyunjin grew eerily calm. It startled the sanguisuges pointing their weapons at her, the sudden change in behavior almost terrifying due to the abruptness of it. "Your law says that a sanguisuge can't turn a human more than once." She could feel the heavy stare of her creator on the side of her face as she challengingly looked at the Elders. "Well, Jung Jinsoul only turned a human once."_ _

__

__-_ _

__

__18:14_ _

__Her throat felt torn up from how much she had screamed at the door, begging to be taken out and be given a chance. A chance to at least talk to Jinsoul for once -- to be able to hold her before anything happened and tell her what she wanted to say._ _

__Damn not being ready or missing the right timing._ _

__She just wanted to be able to be around her creator, was that really so much to ask?_ _

__

__-_ _

__

__13:29_ _

__"What do you mean, child?" The male Elder spoke loudly, incredulity in the intonation of his sentence. "Are you claiming that she is not your creator?"_ _

__The idea that Jinsoul wouldn't be her creator anymore irked her more than she'd like to admit, though she pushed the feeling to the back of her mind, daringly tilting her chin up. "I am claiming that she did not turn a human." Confusion marred the Elder's faces, and she prayed that they knew nothing about this sort of thing before continuing with her sentence. "I am not human. I was not human."_ _

__Their faces paled._ _

__Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jinsoul's eyes blankly staring at her. (She knew she was doing her best to mask her reactions.)_ _

__The grip on her arm tightened, Jungeun's sweaty palm pressing painfully against her skin._ _

__Vivi's jaw clenched as she watched with baited breath._ _

__"Impossible, sanguisuge can only turn humans-"_ _

__"Can they?" Hyunjin carefully shook off Jungeun's grip, moving to step forward. Reflexively, the guards' weapons raised to point at her once more. "How can you be so sure?"_ _

__The Elders were silenced._ _

__Doyoung's expression was unreadable, though his gaze was dark and thoughtful as he tried analyzing her. He had remained quiet throughout the whole ordeal, as if more willing to observe from the sidelines than taking charge himself, but there was something on the tip of his tongue. Hyunjin could tell from the way that they met gazes and he looked to her as if he were trying to ask her something._ _

__Hyunjin took that moment to glance at Jinsoul. The blonde was calm, though Hyunjin couldn't tell if it was because she was doing so on purpose or if it was a reaction to the torture she had had to suffer previously. Blood was coating her back, the skin there torn open by the merciless whips that had struck her repeatedly._ _

__Still, she managed to look strong._ _

__"It is impossible." The female Elder spoke once more, squinting her eyes doubtfully at her. "A mere bluff to save your creator."_ _

__That was true, but if Hyunjin had to be convincing she had to wholeheartedly believe that it was a lie._ _

__"She speaks the truth." Beside her, Jungeun's voice moved closer. There was conviction in the way that she spoke so confidently, enough for Hyunjin to begin to believe her own lie. The demon was standing there with a dark expression on her face, and Hyunjin could see her breaking at the seams but doing her best to hold herself together. Had she not experienced her true personality, she would have thought that it were anger making her hands shake at her sides. "I feel an energy from her that is familiar. It is different to that of a sanguisuge. It comes from the middle world."_ _

__It seemed as if the demon's input was all it took for the opinions to begin to sway. The sanguisuges who had been discussing among themselves stifled their conversation, and the lords and ladies looked visibly threatened._ _

__The Elders looked among themselves, trying to confirm their views on the topic._ _

__"You are not saying this due to your tie with Jinsol?"_ _

__Jungeun coldly looked at the Elder that had asked that, daggers shooting from the scowl imprinted on her face. "My tie with Jinsol is but a contract made between a demon and its contractor." The way she said it sounded so convincing that Hyunjin almost believed that Jungeun felt nothing for Jinsoul. She doubted her memory of how scared Jungeun had looked when she looked at Jinsoul's sleeping figure -- when she had placed a kiss on her cheek as if though she were saying farewell to a lover. "Don't mistake it as anything but."_ _

__"If so, then what is she?" The male Elder pointed towards Hyunjin, who stood her ground despite the threatening gesture._ _

__There was a halt in conversation._ _

__Hyunjin hadn't really thought that far. She had thought that if she told them about how she wasn't really a sanguisuge, they would allow Jinsoul off the hook. But of course, she had allowed her short-sighted vision to get the best of her and now she was stuck in a dead end._ _

__It seemed like Jungeun was at loss for words, too, because she spared Jinsoul a glance that momentarily betrayed her emotions. "We don't know."_ _

__It felt like they had lost. As if they had succumbed to the battle._ _

__Hyunjin felt panic rise inside of her as Doyoung pensively rolled his eyes away from them. There was a thoughtful expression stuck on his face, and it was as if he were almost unamused by the whole scene that they had presented him with. After all, he seemed to be the one who had the power to give the final word, and judging by the way the rest of the Elders turned to him, he would be able to decide Jinsoul's fate._ _

__Instead of declaring anything (Hyunjin had been prepared to claw out the eyes of anyone who decided to touch Jinsoul), Doyoung redirected his blue gaze towards Jinsoul. "Is this true?"_ _

__Hyunjin didn't like the dangerous glint in his eye. He was too perceptive for his own good._ _

__She bore her glare into the side of his face, trying to will him to be distracted from listening into Jinsoul's heartbeat to dictate whether she was lying or not. She knew that if she tried honing into his own hearing, then it would be enough to let Jinsoul lie successfully and get away with it-_ _

__"No."_ _

__Her heart stopped in her chest._ _

__Had she heard that right?_ _

__"Hyunjin was human when I turned her. She had human blood running through her veins that night."_ _

__Wildly, she turned her head to look at Jinsoul._ _

__What was she doing?_ _

__Jinsoul ignored her heavy stare, instead looking at Doyoung dead in the eyes, as if daring him to say something other than what she had stated._ _

__"And what about the other statement?" The Elder sat beside Doyoung spoke up, a victorious tint to his sickening voice. Hyunjin thought she saw Doyoung's eyebrow twitch in annoyance, but by now she was too delirious to distinguish between reality and her imagination. "Is she truly a sanguisuge?"_ _

__The air was tense as they waited for Jinsoul's response. Everyone held their breath, scared that the smallest of sounds would cause a disruption and break the atmosphere in the court. Hyunjin's mind was absolutely blank. She felt nothing._ _

__Taking her time to think, Jinsoul mulled over her thoughts. It was as if she were weighing the pros and cons of her answer, and Hyunjin prayed that whatever she said would benefit her in the long run. This was their last chance._ _

__"Yes." Her voice didn't waver as she answered, staring directly at Doyoung's eyes without moving her gaze. There were no tells on her physically, and there was enough confidence for it to be more than believable. It was convincing and would have fooled even Hyunjin herself. "She was just saying that to protect me. She is nothing but a sanguisuge."_ _

__

__-_ _

__

__18:25_ _

__No matter how many times she tried using her strength to move towards the door, the metallic collar tugged her back and cut off her breathing._ _

__Nothing could be heard outside the four walls she was being confined in, which were intelligently designed so that no sound could get in or out. Hyunjin only knew that this was the case because no matter how many times she had tried calling out, no one answered._ _

__

__-_ _

__

__13:35_ _

__"She lies."_ _

__From there chaos broke out._ _

__Guards immediately rushed towards Hyunjin to restrain her, and feeling threatened, Hyunjin lashed out at them. She struck them wherever she could with a force so violent that it sent a few of them scattering several feet away from her. Her survival instincts had kicked in and she moved at a speed that was fast enough to slip between their grips._ _

__"Arrest her!"_ _

__Hyunjin moved towards Jinsoul. She would get her out of there before they could do anything to her._ _

__Hands grabbed at her, and she easily twisted them away from touching her and weaved in between them. Her track record as an athlete served for use as she easily maneuvered out of their grasps,_ _

__She was almost there. She could reach out and touch Jinsoul right there._ _

__A loud gunshot rung out through the chaos._ _

__Hyunjin felt her whole body become paralyzed._ _

__In front of her, Jinsoul's fearful blue eyes widened with panic, her jaw dropping with unspoken words on the tip of her tongue._ _

__In an instant Hyunjin was being dragged away from her creator despite all of her thrashing, her mind beginning to numb for some reason. She could still see Jinsoul's expression printed in the back of her eyelids as she did her best to wrestle her way out of the hold that they had her in, but she wasn't strong enough to compete against five sanguisuges._ _

__Distantly, she could hear Jinsoul's voice calling out to her among her own infuriated roars._ _

__She had to get to her._ _

__She had to be with her creator._ _

__"Jung Jinsol is sentenced to death for the violation of turning a human for the second time. Her execution will be held privately..."_ _

__

__-_ _

__

__18:48_ _

__After what felt like hours, the heavy door separating her and the outside world was pushed open._ _

__She was sure that she looked like a wild animal, what with the way her hair had tangled itself in her hands when she had tried to pry the metallic collar away from her neck. Her fangs were bared threateningly, more out of fear than the anger that had been bubbling inside of her all of this time. With wide feral eyes, the first thing that came to her mind to do was scream at them out of frustration, though due to the roughness of her throat it came out more as a torn growl._ _

__Through the door came the two sanguisuges who had been at Jinsoul's home, and who had restrained Jinsoul when she had jolted from the harsh whips being taken out on her. Their gazes were downcast, faces expressionless as they slowly made their way into the cell._ _

__Neither of them jolted when Hyunjin came to stop inches away from them, doing her damnest to try to at least land a hit on them, though sympathy flickered in the more muscular one's eyes._ _

__"Jaegun, please take a step back from the child." Another voice joined their 'pleasant gathering', though it resounded through the cell with composure and a lack of emotions. At the words, the muscular guard listened and moved away from her._ _

__Kim Doyoung was the last to step through the thick door, his neat suit and gelled back hair making him look as professional as he intended himself to be. Instead of his dark blue eyes he had put on display during the court ruling, human brown hues observed her with the same amount of coldness that the other color had had. Nothing seemed to be out of place with his appearance, and considering the events that had taken place earlier today, it made Hyunjin go mad at the thought._ _

__"Let me go." Spit flew from between Hyunjin's fangs, rabid as she tugged and yanked against the restraints. "You fucker, let me go."_ _

__The one-eyed guard gave her a repulsed look, and she purposely snapped her head in his direction to threateningly spit at him._ _

__"Where is Jinsoul?" Her voice cracked numerous times as her vocal cords gave way under the pressure of the collar. "Take me to her before I rip you to fucking pieces."_ _

__Doyoung calmly allowed the door to close behind him with a loud clang, his gloved hands rubbing together as if he were cold. (To Hyunjin, he looked like a disgusting fly rubbing its small, dwindly hands together.) He moved as if he had all the time in the world: far too slow and calculated and too similar to how Jinsoul moved. Even the way he moved his jaw pensively as he scanned the room around them, his jawline jutting out against his skin, reminded her of the blonde she was so desperate to see. The resemblance did more to fuel her anger rather than calm her, and she felt herself literally heat up from the emotions._ _

__Rooting her to her place with an intimidating gaze, he stepped closer to where she was._ _

__"Kim Lip-ssi and Vivi-ssi are perfectly safe and unharmed," his voice held no assurance, nor sympathy nor remorse. It was as if he were reading from a script and he didn't know a thing about acting. "You will be able to see them again after you answer some of our questions."_ _

__"Screw you." Hyunjin hissed, narrowing her eyes at the tranquil man. "I'm not answering any of your goddamned questions until you let me see Jinsoul. So take me to her or I promise you that you won't be able to ask any more questions with your tongue ripped out of your head."_ _

__Raising his eyebrows in what appeared to be genuine surprise, Doyoung regarded her with a new light in his eyes. "I hope that is an empty threat, Hyunjin-ssi." He carefully moved around and several steps away from the door, the bottom of his expensive shoes clacking against the stone that had been pressing up against her feet. "More for your sake than mine." He came to a stop after only a handful of steps, his back facing her momentarily before slowly turning on his heel. "Now, I would greatly appreciate it for you to provide the answers to the questions I am about to ask."_ _

__Scoffing in disbelief, Hyunjin leaned back and away from him to show her disinterest._ _

__"If you know any specifics about your heritage, you should tell us." Doyoung's tone was as if he were talking to an acquaintance, his eyes easy on her despite the intense glare she was throwing his way. "Are your parents humans?"_ _

__Hyunjin knew what they wanted._ _

__They wanted to find out exactly what she was so that they could assess whether or not she was a threat. After that, they would find away around their laws so that they could eradicate her and get her out of their way. Just as they had done to Jinsoul._ _

__"Take me to Jinsoul." Defiantly, she steadily returned Doyoung's gaze._ _

__"Several hours ago, you stated that you weren't a sanguisuge." Doyoung continued as if she hadn't spoken at all, disregarding her almost entirely. Even the way that he looked at her was as if he were trying to look for someone else entirely -- like he wasn't really talking to her and instead to the wall behind her. "Jinsoul had not been lying when she said that you were human when she turned you, but she did give away that you don't seem to share the same nature as we do."_ _

__Hyunjin was beyond beginning to grow tired of this. The way that he said her creator's name was far too familiar, as if he had known her personally, and it made her want to rip his throat out from his neck for even speaking of her name so casually when he had been the one to give her a death sentence._ _

__Death sentence. Something that would take Jinsoul away from her. Wipe her from the face of the earth._ _

__"Where the fuck is Jinsoul?" By now, they should have at least said something about Jinsoul's whereabouts, or the time of her execution just to motivate some answers out of her. But Doyoung remained calm -- as if he didn't know what she was talking about. It made the hairs on her skin rise uncomfortably._ _

__"Hyunjin-ssi, please answer my questions-"_ _

__Seeing as her anger wasn't getting her anywhere, she took her time to inhale deeply and calm down enough to formulate a plan. Threats didn't seem to have the same effect that it would have had on a normal person, seeing as they only saw her as a newborn sanguisuge. Instead, she tried to soften herself up and let her expression fall purposefully. It wasn't too difficult to tap into the despair rooted within her being when it was so prominent, but she had been doing her best to keep it at bay. For the exact reason that she would begin crying if she allowed herself to feel anything but the anger._ _

__She fell to her knees, her legs weakening when the strength that her anger had provided her was taken away. The ground was unforgiving on her uncovered knees, digging into her skin._ _

__"Just... tell me how she is..." Her voice sounded too broken -- too weak. But that was what she was._ _

__All that she wanted was to know that Jinsoul was okay._ _

__She couldn't lose two people at once._ _

__The atmosphere changed, managing to become more awkward than it had been earlier. Doyoung stared blankly at her, nothing showing on his face frustratingly enough. Behind him, Jaegun nervously looked towards the one-eyed guard, who also uncomfortably returned his stare. Hyunjin couldn't really tell because she didn't know them well enough, but she thought that she saw guilt tainting their features the more that they wordlessly spoke to each other. In time, they snapped their gazes towards Doyoung and waited for him to say something._ _

__Tears were hot on her cheeks the more that the sorrow settled in her chest, digging its claws into her lungs._ _

__She just felt like a child crying for her mother._ _

__"Jinsol was executed earlier today."_ _

__She stopped._ _

__"It was held in private, with only the people that were necessary there to witness." Doyoung fixated his gaze between Hyunjin's eyebrows. "We did everything as she specially requested."_ _

__Hyunjin couldn't hear anything._ _

__There was a faint ringing sound in the distance. Her chest ached painfully. Her mouth gaped open as she tried to formulate any words that would explain exactly what she was feeling. A nausea washed over her completely._ _

__Jinsoul, with her bright, attention-seeking blonde hair and the softest smiles on her face as she looked at her for the last time. With the knowledge of what was going to happen to her as soon as they took her away from her sight. All of the laws that she created herself, played against her with no remorse nor conscience to who she was. Her lack of effort when Hyunjin offered her a way out..._ _

__Something horrible began to grow. It was a beast feeding off of the millions of thoughts running through her mind, tearing her open from the inside as it clouded her vision with a red fog._ _

__To say that she was angry would be an understatement._ _

__Hyunjin was furious._ _

__She despised every single member in the syndicate for their willingness to let their main founder die so easily at their hands. She would destroy them one by one, tearing them limb from limb with her bare hands until they felt the pain that she was feeling._ _

__The voices of the Elders as they spoke with their personal vendettas against a person who had done no wrong to them distorted in her mind. She remembered vividly as they manipulated words, and how she would manipulate their body parts when she managed to land her hands on them._ _

__So much for being a demon, Jungeun had barely done anything to stand up for Jinsoul. It was as if the flickers of love in her eyes had been completely manifested by her own mind, because none of it had shown when it truly mattered. Hyunjin could still hear the coldness in her tone as she cut any ties that connected her to Jinsoul as if it hadn't mattered. Because maybe Jungeun never really cared for Jinsoul since the beginning, and that was as equally betraying to Hyunjin who had expected more from the demon._ _

__She hated herself, too. She had said that she had powers that were above the ones sanguisuges possessed, yet she had been able to do nothing with them. There was deity blood running in her veins, but she had felt nothing but impotent when she could have saved Jinsoul. She should have saved her. Maybe then she would still be alive._ _

__But more than anything, she was furious at Jinsoul._ _

__For giving up too easily. For telling her that everything would be okay. For saying that she was tired, when Hyunjin was willing to fight for her._ _

__A red mist washed over Hyunjin._ _

__She ripped herself away from the collar chaining her to the heavy wall behind her, debris flying forward to scatter uselessly on the floor. The sound of the chain noisily falling to the floor alerted the two guards who had been anxiously standing watch._ _

__For the first time since she had seen him, Hyunjin saw a hint of something flickering on Doyoung's face._ _

__Her thumbs were pressing at the base of his neck before anything could stop her, digging in with the malicious intent to crush his throat between her fingers. He struggled back by trying to tear her wrists away from him, but with the strength that she should have had access to when they were dragging her away from Jinsoul, she latched on._ _

__Doyoung dashed forward instead of backwards (which was what Hyunjin had been expecting), bringing up his knee to hit her in the stomach, causing her grip to falter momentarily._ _

__A fist flew to Hyunjin's temple._ _

__Through her peripherals, she anticipated it and dodged out of its way. Though she hadn't anticipated a follow up strike with the elbow, which successfully landed on her cheek._ _

__Staggering backwards into a corner of a cell, she took in the sight in front of her._ _

__Doyoung rubbed at his sore throat with his hand, a terrified grimace on his face and several strands of his hair falling over his forehead. To the right of him was the one-eyed guard, a serious expression on his face as he crouched into a fighting stance. He had been the one to hit her first, judging by the way his elbow was a bright red. To the left was the more muscular guard, a violent frown as he raised his fists in defense._ _

__Hyunjin would kill them all._ _

__Her target was Doyoung._ _

__She lunged out with a kick, trying to get him on his back without getting too close._ _

__Immediately, the two guards responded with a series of punches and swings that she either dodged with a faster speed than they threw out, or she took as if it were nothing._ _

__She couldn't feel anything but the anger, and the red in her vision was helping her zone into the blood rushing through their prominent veins._ _

__Her arm was harnessed by the one-eyed guard, his fingernails cutting in crescents into her skin through the force he exerted on her. Frenzied by the restraint, she used all of her weight to pull him forward before swinging her arm back with the momentum that she had created. He flew backwards and smacked against the wall with a satisfying crack._ _

__The back of her neck was seized by a hand so large that the thick fingers dug into the sides of her esophagus. When she tried hitting the large guard, she found that his arm was long enough so that she was held out of his reach._ _

__Dots began to dance in her vision, her supply of oxygen likely being cut out. It was only then that she realized the guttural sound she had been making through the harsh pants._ _

__Jinsoul was dead._ _

__Heejin was gone._ _

__She had been captured by the syndicate._ _

__But Jinsoul was dead. And there was no way of getting her back now._ _

__Next thing she knew, Hyunjin had ripped herself from the guard's grip, her skin bleeding in the process, and she had her fingernails digging into his neck._ _

__Wildly, she pushed him down with all of her power until he stumbled against the cell's wall, his hands at her arm as he gurgled painfully. Her eyes were burning red as she watched the blood pouring from the indents she had made. Warmth wrapped itself around her fingers, almost too hot for her to handle. A strange feeling began to grow inside of her as the monster in her mind fed from the fear in his wide eyes, registering it instead as power. Power that she should have had when she was trying to protect her family._ _

__Momentarily, she felt satisfaction as she watched the life disappearing from his body. How all restraint stopped completely, and there was nothing there to fight her anymore._ _

__They deserve everything that they get, the voice growled._ _

__The guard's hands slipped from her arm and fell limply by his sides._ _

__Hyunjin tore her hand out from his neck, her fingers coated in warm crimson. Her eyes refused to move from his soulless figure, glued to the way his eyes blankly stared up at the ceiling._ _

__He was really dead. A part of her expected him to suddenly twitch but-_ _

__She had killed him._ _

__When she felt a dull prick on her neck, she did nothing to fight it. Instead, she allowed the needle to be inserted into her artery and whatever fluid it was that was held in the syringe to be pushed into her bloodstream. Her head began to swim, her feet stumbling backwards and her hands raising as if to touch her neck._ _

__Behind her, Doyoung's eyes coldly stared at her. There was fear in his eyes as he watched her fall to the ground, her hands reaching out to him reflexively for help. Hyunjin didn't think she had ever seen anything like it._ _

__It reminded her of the expression Heejin had worn when she had showed her what she was._ _

__A monster._ _

__

__-_ _

__

__It had been hours since Hyunjin gained consciousness again._ _

__Her head had been throbbing painfully, but it was easy to ignore when all of her pain was concentrated on her chest._ _

__She pressed her forehead against the cold stone of the floor, tears sliding off of her eyelashes and splattering onto the ground with minimal sound. Her tears came back in waves, allowing her to take breaks between feeling everything at once and not feeling anything at all. The only constant was the contractions in her heart._ _

__Sniffing pitifully, Hyunjin grimaced as snot fell from her nose. It had been a horrible tendency that her body had whenever she cried too heavily, and it had always been a motivation for her not to let herself cry. But it was inevitable when she was busy wallowing in her self-pity and reminding herself of all of the things that would bring tears to her tired eyes. She wasn't too sure if it was the tears or there snot that left the salty taste on her lips._ _

__The first night that Jinsoul had managed to get into her room when Hyunjin had locked her out, the first thing that she had done was forcefully wipe away the snot from her face with a tissue. It was unwelcome and a nuisance at the time, and she had hated being made fun of at the time. But after a while it was easy to grow fond of the way that she babied her._ _

__A sob ripped through her chest. Crap._ _

__She tried to stop thinking about Jinsoul, but if she did then it was thinking about Heejin._ _

__Heejin the first time they had met, with her hair tied back into a neat bun and her two rows of teeth donning braces that matched hers. Heejin the first time that Hyunjin realized that she had feelings for her, with her wind-swept hair and forced smile on her face after eating the gimbap Hyunjin had purposefully added extra salt to, pretending that it was good for her sake. Or Heejin as she let herself be dragged away by Vivi after being found out as a 'traitor'..._ _

__Nothing was going well._ _

__Everything had been too good to be true._ _

__And now she had someone's blood in her hands (she could feel the dried blood underneath her fingernails) and no one to take care of her. No one she could take care of._ _

__She was alone._ _

__The ground shook beneath her._ _

__Except for the hundred other sanguisuges wandering around the syndicate temple._ _

__Hyunjin didn't even want to begin to think how it must have been for Jinsoul when she had been under ground all of those years. At least now, she could see the room that she was being confined in. The way that her creator had described it to her, she hadn't been able to see anything at all._ _

__How long would they keep her in here for?_ _

__The walls around her shook again._ _

__Frowning, Hyunjin twisted her head so she would be able to look at the heavy door. Her cheek pressed to the floor, dirt specks implementing into her skin as she fixated on the firm material that hadn't been opened the whole time she had been there. There was nothing out of place. The door wasn't opening to show more people to deliver more bad news, so she didn't understand where all of the tremors would be coming from._ _

__She hoped that the temple were burning to the ground right that second. That the syndicate would reap what they sowed._ _

__Meanwhile she would just wait there for the death that should have come to her the night she fell out of the three storey building. Maybe then she would be able to taste death on her lips instead of the tears that hadn't stopped the whole time._ _

__Would she be able to meet Jinsoul there?_ _

__A muffled explosion resounded into the cell._ _

__Startled, Hyunjin tried to push herself up from the ground despite all the heavy metallic restraints wrapped around her body parts. That was the first time that she had been able to hear anything from outside, and it wasn't anything that she had been expecting any time soon because she had thought that the insulation of the cell had been of good quality. Perhaps her judgemental had been wrong all along and her auditory sense had been the one at fault. Though if she had been correct and the room was as airtight as she originally thought it to be, then something was happening. And it was making the ground shake._ _

__Hacking to get rid of the mucus in her throat, she tried to prepare herself for anything._ _

__First she would have to get her breathing under control before she tried to listen into anything outside._ _

__After using the breathing exercises that Haseul had recommended to her, Hyunjin found her chest lifting and falling at a steadier rate. It did nothing to soothe the aching of her heart, though it had been advice for stopping an anxiety attack, not for someone who was busy mourning over a loved one-_ _

__Hyunjin focussed on her hearing. (The new distraction was enough for her to concentrate on something other than her emotions for now.)_ _

__The eerie silence encompassed the room. Hyunjin had never really experienced the popular saying of a 'deafening silence', but now that she was in a room where the only sound was her galloping heartbeat, she could understand perfectly what was being described. Not only did it have a mind-numbing effect on her, but it made it far more difficult for her to breathe now that her hearing was wiped out from her list of senses. It was almost something physical that had settled itself into the room, making her swim drowsily in it. For a moment, she feared that she had gone deaf while she had been busy attacking the sanguisuges earlier._ _

__Just when she was going to let her frustrations get the better of her, she heard it._ _

__For a moment, it sounded like repetitive tapping that had no rhythm. It was wild and it bounced off of the walls at an alarming speed. As it got closer, it grew louder, and Hyunjin could hone into it better._ _

__Except now it wasn't just tapping, but it also came with the loud claps of a small eruption just before the walls tapped. When she thought she heard a faint voice, she called herself crazy. But then she heard chaos resounding in the hallways outside, and she thought that it may be possible._ _

__Maybe they were screams._ _

__From that many people? What business did such a large number of sanguisuge have in the underground hallways of the temple when they could be above ground, enjoying whatever alcohol they liked to treat themselves to?_ _

__Maybe because she had killed one of their best guards and downed the other as if he were a mere fly?_ _

__It would be stupid not to bring reenforcement after that, even if Hyunjin had lost her will to fight the moment she had laid her eyes on the lifeless body of the man she had killed._ _

__The ceiling shook this time, small pieces of rubble detaching themselves from the stone and falling onto the ground. Some of it coated her as a result, dust sticking to her sweat lathered skin while some of it tried mischievously sneaking into her eyes. It made her purse her lips and reflexively close her eyes tightly, waiting for it to stop before deeming it safe to blink her eyes open again._ _

__Before she had time to concentrate on the sound waves again, an abrupt slam against the door jolted her in place._ _

__It sounded like a heavy weight had been thrown against it, which meant that it couldn't be the sanguisuge guards that had been stationed outside on direct orders from Doyoung. Hyunjin had seen the keys glinting in the sunlight from the small window slits before it was slipped into the pockets._ _

__Hyunjin would have loved to think it was someone sent to rescue her, but there was something pressing into her stomach telling her that she shouldn't get her hopes up so fast._ _

__The bang came again, this time weaker than the first though still holding that power that it had the first time._ _

__Hands tied behind her back, head held back by a new, tighter collar and legs bound by chains, Hyunjin fearlessly glared at the shivering door. If death was knocking at her door, she would not let it take her with reluctance in her heart._ _

__Untrusting, Hyunjin shifted in her place as the door fought back against whoever it was trying to open it. She would try to deny that she could feel her heart beating in her throat, but she wouldn't deny the way she pulled against her restraints to try and free herself as if it were the last thing she would do in her lifetime._ _

__The door burst from its hinges._ _

__Blinded by the sudden influx of light, Hyunjin squinted her eyes and angled her head away from the doorway._ _

__Two figures stood there, hesitation immobilizing their bones. The first thing that Hyunjin noticed was the pungent smell of blood drenching their clothes, mixed with the stinging scent of sweat reeking from their over-exerted postures. Their statures loomed in the doorway, muscular shoulders made for carrying the military weapons that screamed murder whenever they clicked against their uniform. Very faintly, Hyunjin could make out the salivating scent of human blood._ _

__Hyunjin had been expecting death at her door, though she hadn't expected it to come in the form of humanity._ _

__And one thing about humanity was their weakness for weak, powerless women. Especially when they were tied up and left defenseless._ _

__Which is what she was._ _

__"What in the world-"_ _

__A male. Couldn't be older than forty, nor younger than twenty._ _

__"Is-is she human?" Another male, higher in pitch than the voice prior to it. "Excuse me, are you human?"_ _

__She remembered Jinsoul's words, abruptly. How she had told her that something positive about experiencing all of the horrors of the world was having your humanity taken from you, because humanity was naive._ _

__"Please." Hyunjin cowered back, her eyes dancing on their fingers pensively hovering over the triggers of their blood-stained guns. "Don't hurt me..."_ _

__"Fuck, she's human." The first voice grumbled, dropping his gun from his hands and letting it swing against his side by the strap wrapped on his shoulders. He stepped forward, the way the blood sprayed off of his boot audible in Hyunjin's honed hearing. "Why would they do this to one of their own?"_ _

__Yes, why would they?_ _

__"It's okay, I won't hurt you." The man assured her through the material that was pulled up to cover the features of his face nose down. With trembling gloved hands soaking with what was a mixture of sweat and blood, he carefully reached out to touch the collar wrapped around her neck. Hyunjin flinched away from him, tears glimmering on the brim of her eyes. "No, no, its okay." His eyes were covered by a visor that was provided by the helmet he wore on his head. "I'm with the government, you can trust me."_ _

__At his words, Hyunjin momentarily stilled. Seeing her lack of movement as a form of consent, he began to mess with the metallic collar. The rough material of the glove touched her neck, staining her skin with red._ _

__"Shit, Hwang, can you go find some keys?" He called back to his partner, distracted by the intricacies of the lock keeping Hyunjin chained up. "One of the things has to have it."_ _

__Hyunjin restrained herself from snapping at his neck, the clear view presented to her as he angled his head to look behind her._ _

__When there was no response, the man began to turn around. "Hwang, I said get the keys-"_ _

__The body of his partner began falling forward, slowly as if supported by a rope. There was a hole gaping in the center of his chest that was almost gruesome if it hadn't been executed so cleanly, as if precise with the way the trajectory had cut in and cut out. His hands fell from where he had readily been holding his gun, and his front uselessly collapsed into the cell with a slump. Behind him stood two familiar figures._ _

__"Shit-" Horror and panic tainted his voice. Hyunjin was impressed at the speed he reacted at, his hands automatically finding their position on his gun and lifting the rifle to aim at the two attackers. She waited for the sound of the rifle going off to deafen her, but nothing came._ _

__A black gust of wind flew into the cell, whistling sharply in the stale air, before nestling into the man's unguarded chest. Hyunjin watched in surprise as the physical form of energy surged through the body and out of it without any resistance, the man's body remaining unmoving as if it had been a mere illusion. The energy dispersed itself into smaller pieces, drifting back at a slower pace through the air and back towards its origin: Hyejoo's outstretched hand._ _

__Hyunjin stared at her._ _

__The younger girl was dressed in her own clothes, which was a contrast to the school uniform she had been wearing when they first met. A black hood was pulled over her head, coated over a loose black shirt. Her unique lips were covered by a black mask. The only features Hyunjin had to recognize her were her uninterested eyes and the black magic she had just displayed in front of her. The aura that she gave off was definitely easy to identify when she looked so gloomy and impassive all of the time. Even if she was standing in front of a now, dead body._ _

__"Wah, we found her."_ _

__Hyunjin's eyes widened when she registered the second girl._ _

__"Haseul-unnie owes me dinner now." Yeojin hopped behind Hyejoo's figure, the only feature visible over the tall shoulder being her smiling eyes._ _

__"Shut up, we don't have time for this." Hyejoo pranced into the cell as if she were walking into her own room, letting Yeojin gingerly step over the dead body blocking the doorway._ _

__"Come on, Unnie, I've already taught you about 'talk and walk'." Yeojin's voice was light, though she grunted in disgust when her shoes accidentally touched the dead man's twitching fingers. "You should learn to multi-task like at school."_ _

__Hyejoo rolled her eyes, and crouched in front of Hyunjin. "Maybe it's because I don't want to talk to you." Her brows furrowed as she began working her magic._ _

__"Aw, don't be like that." Yeojin bounced beside Hyejoo and put an arm around her, which Hyejoo weakly tried shrugging off. "I'll make her treat you too. We can go after school together if you want." She leaned closer to her as if the next part were a secret. "I know you have nothing to do after school, anyway."_ _

__Hyejoo snapped her head towards the smaller girl until she took the hint and removed her arm from her shoulder._ _

__Sighing, Yeojin twisted in her place and finally looked at Hyunjin. "Oh, hey Hyunjin-unnie."_ _

__Hyunjin blinked at her. She couldn't believe that Haseul had actually let her little sister step into this bloodbath when she was just a tiny, teenage girl with no means of protecting herself other than the apathetic girl who refused to even talk to her. She also couldn't believe that she wasn't the least bit affected by the sight of all of the blood and the dead bodies that her so called 'friend' had just brutally murdered with a flick of the hand._ _

__Hyejoo had calmly removed the collar from Hyunjin's neck by the time Yeojin leaned forward and examined her face. "Why do you look like your cat just died?"_ _

__"You're a stubborn one."_ _

__Her heart stopped._ _

__"It's going to be okay."_ _

__Tears pricked the back of her eyes._ _

__"I just want to rest, Kitten."_ _

__Hyunjin cleared her throat and glared slightly at Yeojin. "Who let you down here, kid?"_ _

__"Tch." Hyejoo kept her head down as she removed the chains binding her legs together, though she didn't bother hiding her reaction. "That's what I've been wondering this whole time."_ _

__Gaping as if she were offended (which she probably was), Yeojin indignantly bounced in her spot like a little frog. "Don't call me 'kid', I'm sixteen!" The way that she puffed her cheeks out didn't help to support her statement, instead making her look like a six-year-old trying to sneak their way into a club. "Y'know, in some countries I'd even be legal to drink."_ _

__Stretching her legs, Hyunjin twisted slightly to allow Hyejoo to reach the chains around her hands. "Doesn't mean anything when you're in this country." She retorted, deadpanning the girl with an intimidating glare. She had no energy left to filter her mouth, and Yeojin was very easily getting on her nerves. "And this isn't what we should be talking about when you guys literally just killed some government operatives." Hyunjin reminded, addressing Hyejoo as well just to make sure she knew the stakes that her actions would bring to her._ _

__Yeojin's eyes widened in fascination. "Oh~ is that who the men with the guns are?" She glanced towards the man who Hyejoo was currently crouching over as if he were a limp bag. "They're killing everything that moves up there... it feels like we're in an action movie."_ _

__"They're going to kill you next if you don't shut up for once in your life," Hyejoo snapped, the pressure on Hyunjin's wrists loosening as the metal clanked to the floor. The girl grabbed at Hyunjin's elbow to help her up, but the latter shrugged her off. "We're meeting up with the others a little further down the road. Vivi-ssi told me that our main priority is getting out, so that means no going back in for anything else."_ _

__It's not like she had anything else to go back for._ _

__Or anyone._ _

__Ignoring the aching in her chest, Hyunjin began moving towards the door. "Well, you found your way here," she stepped over the dead human, feeling minimal amount of sympathy for him, "I'm assuming you know your way back?"_ _

__Leaning out of the door, she balked at the sight her eyes laid on._ _

__Almost the entire hallway was littered with the dead bodies of sanguisuges riddled with bullet holes and several other bodies in the same uniform that the two other men had been wearing. Blood splattered onto the walls like paint on a canvas, and a part of her wanted to stand in the midst of it to admire the artwork. (They got what they deserved.) But she was still sickened by the sight of so much blood, and now she had to smell human blood when the last time she had fed had been more than a day ago._ _

__She wondered what had happened, but then remembered what the man had told her. "I'm with the government."_ _

__It seemed like the government had finally decided to stop playing around and had declared war against the syndicate._ _

__"Uhm... you see..." Yeojin's raspy voice loudly interrupted the eerie silence. "We kinda just ran around until we found a cell with you in it."_ _

__And they were in the center of it._ _


	24. twenty-four

For the first time in a couple of days, the rays of the sun actually managed to touch her skin. Heejin couldn't help but bask in the warmth that fell through the car window, because all she had felt for the past several days was the cold concrete pressing against her bare legs and the metallic cuffs cutting into her wrists. But now that she was liberated from the restraints and was sitting on a surface that didn't make her back feel like hell, it was as if she were a new person. Though it did feel awkward on her sickly pale skin, the sun did well to warm her back up.

Her eyes drifted to the driver's seat, where Chanwoo tapped along to the beat of the radio on the steering wheel. He was dressed in his usual attire he wore for when he taught at school, and with the casual demeanor dripping from his whole body, it almost made Heejin feel normal.

Of course, the sharp jab on her ribcage from where Chaewon was shakily pressing a gun into her sides broke her out of her reverie. Beside her, the girl dressed in more casual clothing to make her look like one of Chanwoo's daughters was looking straight ahead. There was a way how her lips pursed tightly that gave away just how off she was feeling about the whole thing, and it made the whole prospect that she could just accidentally fire the gun and end Heejin's whole life in the matter of seconds just a little more bearable. (Or perhaps it didn't, because for all she knew the girl could just nervously fumbled with the weapon and end up pulling the trigger after all.)

In the passenger seat was a sullen looking Yerim, who refused to look anywhere near Chanwoo's figure and opted to gaze out fo the window as if she were being driven to her own funeral. After what had happened the last time Heejin had seen her, she couldn't really blame her reluctance to even acknowledge the man's presence.

Heejin let her head fall against the backseat, closing her eyes momentarily.

Any traces of sleep she had managed to catch had slipped from her grasp either because of the uncomfortable position she had been kept in, or because Chanwoo decided to continue to push for answers for things that Heejin obviously didn't know.

To think that this man was someone that Jinsoul had once been in love with was... mildly bizarre. Jungeun had painted him as someone who she felt sorry for killing, but for the past two days it was all Heejin could fantasize about. (It was morbid to even wish death on someone, but Heejin was very tired of being beaten around like a rag doll, as if the only purpose she served was a source of information. Which, to him, that was all she really was.)

The pressure against her ribs faltered, and Heejin immediately peeked through her eyes to look at where Chaewon was slowly losing her composure.

She had spent a lot of time with the girl over the course of a day, considering Chanwoo didn't trust Yerim to keep her mouth shut around her. Heejin found solace in the humanity she possessed. The way that she checked up on her wounds so clumsily and with the bare minimum information that she supposedly found on YouTube tutorials was comforting when Heejin didn't think about how her life was in the hands of someone so inexperienced. When she had no one else she could trust around her, it was easy to place the smallest of it on someone who wasn't at fault in the situation.

As slow as possible, Heejin's hand crawled across the space between them. She made sure it was slow enough to not be caught by Chanwoo, but bold enough for Chaewon to be able to see her movements and not startle her. Timidly, she wrapped her hand around the barrel and pulled it to where it had previously been.

When it fell once more, Heejin moved her hand to where Chaewon was sweatily holding the weapon and held her small hand in hers. In an abnormally comforting manner, Heejin herself pushed her hand so that the gun would be digging against her side once more. She ignored the bewildered expression on Chaewon's face, pretending that everything was fine and she was still lost in her own thoughts.

She knew that if Chanwoo saw that Chaewon wasn't doing her job properly, then she would end up being punished just as Yerim had. That wasn't something that she wanted to see happen again because it had been terrifying enough the first time.

Yerim glanced back at them. Her eyes danced down to their hands before fluttering back up to meet Heejin's.

As if the whole moment hadn't happened at all, both of them returned to stare out of their respective windows.

They had been driving for a long time now, and it almost felt as if though they were going to a completely different city from the duration of the ride. However, judging from the road Chanwoo had just turned into it appeared that they were arriving at their destination. That, or they were going off the road so that he could dispose of her body after beating her to death.

The imagery was enough to leave a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and Heejin quickly blinked it out of her head before she could let herself dwell on it too much.

Anxiously, her fingers played with the bandages around her wrists. It had taken Chaewon some time to do her best to clean up the blood and rub some cream on it so that they wouldn't get infected, but it hadn't done anything to get rid of the soreness. Heejin knew from bumping her head against walls too hard or being hit in the head by a ball that bruises wouldn't suddenly disappear in several days, but it was still bothersome how she struggled to emote with her face with the blotched, purple mark on her cheek.

Surely if someone saw them, they would call the police on Chanwoo for having a severely injured teenage girl with him and another holding a gun.

A heavy sigh left Chaewon as the road became more obscure, what with the gravel crunching under the tyres of the car. The radio station had become muffled a while back, but now it had gone completely into static and was just crackling lifelessly instead of producing any coherent sound. Chanwoo's sharp eyes stared at her from the rear view mirror, as if making sure everything was still in place, before darting them towards Heejin's.

As soon as they met gazes, a chill ran down Heejin's spine and she had to look away. She couldn't let him think that she was about to challenge his authority when there would be no one there to hear her screams. Even if it technically wasn't an act, Heejin had to play up her part as a scared, defenseless girl. She had to make her captor think that she wasn't a threat.

The car grumbled to a stop, the engine still on for several more seconds as if waiting for something to happen before being cut off by a swift motion of the hand by Chanwoo.

An unsettling silence swarmed into the car immediately after, the shade cast from the trees around them making the inside almost completely dark. Maybe it was because Heejin's hearing was still a little off, but she couldn't even hear the unsteady breaths from Chaewon beside her, nor the crinkling of Chanwoo's clothes in the driver's seat as that had previously served as white noise. It was complete and utter silence, and that was somehow worse than listening to Chanwoo berate one of the girls for their poor conduct of his orders.

Heejin jumped when Chanwoo abruptly spun in his seat. She expected him to reach for the gun on his belt and pull it out on her. But instead he just shifted until he could comfortably look at all three of them at once as if he were standing at the front of the classroom listing off attendance.

"We're at the National Research's private facility," he briefed with a calm tone of voice, and Heejin almost expected that fatherly smile to grace his face. But he looked tense himself with the way his shoulders were wound so tightly and his grip on the headrest turned his knuckles white. "Phase three will officially be starting now, which means that Chaewon-" The girl flinched in her seat, her fingers below Heejin's hand flying off of the gun before Heejin pressed them back on for her. "-you have to keep Heejin close to you at all times. Later on, when we've established ourselves, Gowon has to take control. Yerim, keep your end of the deal and I will keep mine." Yerim blankly stared back at him. "When I give you the signal, you move, alright?"

Neither of the girls reacted to his words. Chaewon's skin was pasty and white from what seemed like nerves, and Heejin was almost worried that she would pass out at any moment now. Yerim's mouth was set in a hard line, and despite her obedience there was blatant reluctance with how she gave the briefest of nods before looking away from him.

Chanwoo turned to look at her once more, though without the mirror it truly felt much worse. "Heejin, I know how great of an actress you are." The reference back to her school activities made her heart stop in her chest. "If you don't want the people around you to be hurt, I suggest you learn to apply that talent of yours. After all, we are at your parent's facility."

As if his paralyzing presence wasn't enough, now the words had her stuck to her seat.

Only until recently, she hadn't known anything about her parent's line of work. When it had come up as a topic in school when she was younger, she had gone home to ask her nanny what her parents worked as. Unfortunately, the poor woman had no idea where her employers sourced their money and had told Heejin to tell her friends at school that they were businessmen. When she grew older, she managed to ask her mother once more. The answer had been 'scientists', and Heejin had taken it as a viable answer seeing as she had never really been interested in anything revolving around 'science'. Though when the teachers pressed further for more details, she realized that it was the vaguest answer possible.

Of course, now she knew that they had been researching into vampires this whole time and were responsible for any information that they had about them. And once again, she had managed to let herself get wrapped up in the small piece of information that they gave her to satiate her curiosity and forget to ask any more questions.

How was it that a complete stranger knew where her parents worked and she didn't?

Chanwoo pulled her out of the car and the warmth of the summer evening slapped her in the face. His grip on her arm didn't falter until Chaewon was standing beside her once more.

"Chaewon, sweetie, come on." Frustratedly, he tugged the small girl to stand closer beside Heejin and forced her arm to loop around hers. With the hand that was holding the gun, he pushed it inside Chaewon's thin hoodie as if she were holding her side and pressed the gun up against Heejin's side. "We don't want anyone being suspicious, do we? Otherwise we know what happens to people who become suspicious, and personally, I don't want anymore innocent people to die."

Once he was done, he affectionately patted Chaewon's head before beginning to set off the way they had come with the car.

Yerim obediently followed after him, though not before wordlessly asking them if they were alright.

The walk was long, though that was probably because Heejin had to concentrate on the placement of her footing considering that her left leg had been stabbed a day prior. She tried containing her hisses of displeasure, mostly because she hadn't wanted Chaewon to worry more than she already was, but with the inevitable pressure she had to put on the leg if she didn't want to fall it was impossible not to.

Only ten minutes later and a walk up a properly paved road, they arrived at a large building in the middle of a clearing in the woods.

It was like something out of a sci-fi movie, Heejin mused when she had the time to appreciate the place. The structure was gray-scale what with the walls being a clean white, and the windows being tinted an elusive black. Not only was it tall, but it spanned about the width of a warehouse with a garage large enough to allow full-sized trucks to move in and out. There was one obvious entrance, and that was the clear glass doors at the front of the building with tall, clear glass windows allowing them to see the insides of the building.

"You tell them you're here to see your parents, alright?" Chanwoo said, his voice stern and strict. "You tell them your name and they'll allow us through."

Heejin clenched her jaw. Beside her, Chaewon was shaking so hard that she could feel the tremors against her body. For a moment she wondered if it would really be as simple as saying her name, but if it was faulty then it would raise suspicion, which would end up in them getting caught and the whole thing going to crap.

Nodding more to herself than at him, Heejin tried pulling her arm from Chaewon's. Instead of simply slipping away from Chaewon, she found that she was refusing to let her move away from her.

Panicking on the inside, Heejin turned to look at her with widened eyes. "Chaewon, you have to let go." She whispered, trying to not catch Chanwoo's attention too much. Chaewon's eyes were glimmering with unshed tears that threatened to fall the more that she reciprocated her desperate gaze. "I'll be okay, I promise. I'll be back in no time." 

For a while, the grip on her arm didn't loosen. In fact, it was as if the promise had just been more reason for her to hold on harder than she had been before. Though reluctantly, Chaewon released her arm.

Heejin took a deep breath. She wasn't horrible at talking to strangers thanks to all of the events she had been forced to go to by her mother, and she wasn't too bad at coming up with lies on the spot to try and get herself out of sticky situations. She understood perfectly why Chanwoo chose her to do this task, but that didn't really make her feel any better about the situation or herself. After all, lying was monumentally known as a sin, and admitting that she was able to do it so easily and well wasn't something that she should be proud of.

When she opened the glass door, she expected to be greeted by some security, or at least a receptionist behind the clean desk that welcomed newcomers. However, there was no one there to see her timid facial expression, nor the way she limped her way into the room as if she had just been hit by a car.

The spacious room smelt like cleaning products and some pleasant aromatic air freshener. Very distantly, the sound of machines humming around the building could be heard, though there were no traces of footsteps nor voices talking to one another. It was as if the entire building had been deserted. Which led Heejin to question what she was supposed to do next.

Warily, she glanced back the way she had come.

Down the road stood Chanwoo very casually with his hands in his pockets. If she were any other person, she would have just thought he were one of the workers of the place walking outside for some fresh air. But with the way he stood so threateningly close to Chaewon as if to make sure she didn't step out of line, and how Yerim didn't make any kind of moves to at least use her speed to run away from him, she knew that he had the upper hand in this situation.

Her eyes longingly looked at the phone on the counter where the receptionist was supposed to be sitting. She could make a call that second to the police and tell them that she and her friends had been kidnaped by their teacher. All she would have to do was stall until they arrived and then Chanwoo would be arrested and put in his place.

Just when she was going to make a move to the phone, her eyes met Chanwoo's.

All conviction running through her body left her abruptly.

Making sure that her assumptions had been correct, Heejin scanned the large room once more before limping back to the door. There was no one else there, which made her role in pretending to be visiting completely useless.

Taking her retreat as a sign to move, Chanwoo began marching up the road with a small grin on his face. "Is there anyone in there?" His voice was too victorious for her liking, as if he had been hoping that that was the case so that he could advance with his malicious plans more easily.

Heejin bit her tongue to hold back the insult forming in her mind. Shaking her head, she pulled the door open to allow Chanwoo to stride through confidently. "There isn't any security or receptionists around." Unenthusiastically, she explained everything she had observed. It felt like she was betraying herself by playing into his plan, as if she were helping him instead of doing what she should be doing which was trying to stop him. "It's like no one came to work today."

The thought was a little off-putting. Her parents worked in this facility. They dedicated every waking hour of their life to progress their work further and encouraged their obsession with their project by revolving their entire lives around it. If there weren't any workers in the building, then where were her parents?

Yerim's entire expression had fallen from her face as she looked around the place. Heejin almost wanted to assume it was because of the incredibly high pricing of the decoration, or that the architecture managed to be one of the most prestigious she had ever seen. But she reminded herself that Yerim was more than a century old, and she had seen many more things in her life time than some petty building that humans liked to pride themselves in. Whatever was making her look like a piece of her had just died in that moment must have been something important.

"My prediction was correct, then." Chanwoo stated comfortably as he walked around the receptionist's desk to where the computer was located. His eyes darted around the screen illuminating blue light onto his face. "There won't be any need to worry about any security."

Heejin gulped. No security meant no help.

"Come on, we don't have a lot of time." Pushing himself from the desk casually, Chanwoo swiped some keys from where they had been lying beside a pencil holder and swung them around his finger.

Chaewon hesitated with her entire body, a grudging frown on her face as she stared after the man's tall figure. Heejin was about to move to her to comfort her, but Yerim beat her to it. Slipping her hand around her elbow in a delicate manner as if she were scared to break her, Yerim shook her lightly to get her out of the trance she had fallen into.

Feeling like an intruder, Heejin stopped where she was standing. It was like that time when they had been at the arcade all together and Yerim had held her in a surprisingly familiar manner. Now, with a gun in Chaewon's shaking hand in place of a water bottle, the stakes were higher than they had been the first time. However, it didn't stop Yerim from speaking to her in that same soft, hushed manner that visibly calmed her down. The amount of care in Yerim's expression almost made Heejin forget everything that had happened.

Yerim looked like Yerim again.

Before Heejin could feel too good about anything, a gunshot rung out in the building. Her immediate response had been to flinch and cover her ears, but a sharp tug around her waist removed her from the position she was in.

With wide, blinking eyes, Heejin peered up to look at Yerim. She was doing her best to make use of her body and try to shield Heejin and Chaewon from any signs of danger. From the way her shoulders shook and her eyes were clenched shut, it was as if she were expecting something else to happen, but fortunately there was nothing to follow up the loud sound.

"What was that?" Heejin whispered, unsure whether it was the safest decision to make a sound.

Yerim slowly opened her eyes again, looking over her shoulder. Heejin strained her neck to do the same and saw that the white hallway remained as immaculate as it had been the first place. "I think... Chanwoo just shot someone."

Her heart stopped momentarily mid-beat.

Chaewon whimpered quietly beside them, her hand going to her mouth to muffle the sound. The gun slipped from her hands at the words and clattered to the floor with a loud metallic ring that made Heejin grimace. Tears brimmed her soft eyes that stared blankly into the space in front of her, and Heejin had to double check that it hadn't been her to be the one to fire the shot.

"Did he hit?" Heejin asked darkly, preoccupied with pushing herself up from the marble floor. In the heat of the moment, she hadn't felt how her leg had screamed painfully from the sudden jolt of movement, but now that the adrenaline was wearing off the adrenaline was becoming much more prominent. Biting her lip, she tried to gingerly take a peek at the wound hidden beneath the loose sweatpants she had borrowed from Chaewon. The sight that greeted her was not too pleasant.

"I think so." Yerim distractedly tried to move closer to where the gunshot had rung out, only to be stopped in her place.

"Don't." Chaewon held onto Yerim's wrist tightly, her voice wet with tears. "It-it might be dangerous..."

Heejin felt her expression softening as she looked at the raw fear behind Chaewon's desperation. She didn't seem like she was handling everything very well. Yerim had been alive for a long time, and it was expected that she had seen some serious things in her life time. But Heejin was just a human who had been thrust into this world recently, and she was handling it much better than Chaewon was. Perhaps it was simply down to her mentality and how she had grown up around parents who hadn't been merciful to their child, but Heejin was running on pure survival instinct and dulled emotions.

For her, she didn't see what good would come out of letting her paranoia get the best of her.

"It's okay, Chae," Yerim softly patted the girl's head, care in how she handled her, "there isn't anyone else there. Chanwoo is telling us to go."

Rigidly, Yerim pushed herself up from her crouched position and grabbed the gun from where it had carelessly fallen on the floor. Her expression had reverted back to that blank, emotionless expression. Heejin knew it was thanks to her vampiric abilities that allowed her to hear Chanwoo's orders without the man having to come back and fetch them from their hiding spot.

Heejin hesitated, but reached out to touch Chaewon's back. "You don't have to look if you don't want to." She was talking about the dead body that would likely be stamped against one of the pristine white walls. It wasn't like she enjoyed the gore that came with action and horror movies, but she thought that it would be easier to handle since she had religiously watched them for years. "I'll hold your hand so you know where you're going, okay?"

Gratefully, Chaewon turned to look at her with wet eyes. She almost looked like an anime character with how big her tears were. "Y-yes please."

Sighing to herself, Heejin slipped her hand into Chaewon's clammy one and interlaced their fingers. The grip that was returned was hard and terrified, but Heejin ignored it as she pulled her up.

Following Yerim down the hallway to where Chanwoo had disappeared, Heejin made sure that she glanced back occasionally to see how Chaewon was faring. She didn't want to see the dead body of someone who had just been shot either, considering how the last time she had seen a corpse it had haunted her in her sleep, but she figured that since she had already put herself through it once then there wasn't anything wrong with doing it again. Chaewon likely had never seen a dead body in her life. She didn't want her to go through what she had had to.

"They already know we're here." Chanwoo panickedly waved his hand at them, urging them to move down the corridor.

With complete disregard for the body of the man in a white lab coat now bleeding out on the marble floors, Chanwoo proceeded to move down the hallway.

Heejin's stomach lurched when she saw it and she immediately looked away. Fortunately, Chaewon's eyes had been closed the entire time so she hadn't had to see the morbid sight. Though just in case curiosity got the better of her, Heejin squeezed her hand tighter and pulled her along as quickly as her limp would allow her to move.

"Okay, he's gone now." Heejin gently tugged Chaewon's hand towards her, her words soft in case she startled her too much.

Just when Chaewon was beginning to unsurely open her eyes, a horde of footsteps so loud that even Heejin could here them began to approach them.

Panic rose in Heejin's chest like a field of butterflies sparking to life and fluttering away. The rush of fear that she felt slither down her bones wasn't for herself and the idea of being caught with Chanwoo. It was for the group of people.

Spinning on her heel, Heejin's eyes widened when she saw four or five men and women. Only one of them was holding a lethal weapon, which hadn't been raised or aimed at anyone yet. The rest of the group held their own individual improvised weapons, ranging from a baseball bat to an emergency pickaxe. She watched as confusion clouded their expressions when they saw Heejin and Chaewon first, the two of them cowering together and gripping onto one another's hands for dear life. Then Yerim, who held the gun that Chaewon had dropped earlier but didn't move to utilize it.

"Stop right there-"

The words gurgled in the man's mouth as a bullet struck him in the chest, sending him staggering backwards.

Any screams were abruptly cut off by a series of bullets mercilessly cutting through the air and pounding into their bodies as if they were just sandbags.

Heejin instinctively spun around and gathered Chaewon into her arms. She did her best to hold her head against her shoulder to stop her from looking at the brutal scene, but she herself could barely tear her eyes away from it. It was almost impossible not to hear the broken sobs coming from Chaewon's trembling body, but Heejin tried to block it out and focus on the number of shots that Chanwoo was firing.

Eight.

That number was more than the number of people who had charged at them.

When the deafening sounds stopped, Heejin held her breath and waited for anything else to happen.

"Fuck..." The sound of blunt clicking resounded through the silent hallways, followed by the rustling of clothes. "Yerim, you're going to have to start doing something, I'm running out of ammo."

Heejin felt Chaewon's hands gripping at her back through the shirt that she had lent her. Her nails were digging into her skin, and it was painful, but Heejin couldn't really blame her for reacting this way. Even she had to take some time to actually breathe and try to process what was happening.

"Let's go, I don't want anymore innocent people dying." Chanwoo ordered as if her actually held some kind of remorse for the lives he was taking.

It was sickening. He was killing without any hesitation. Like he had no sympathy for the people who were just trying to do their jobs. He had the nerve to get annoyed at them when they were the ones who had stormed the building with the intention of doing whatever it was they wanted to do. And now he was telling Yerim to do the dirty work for him just because it was an inconvenience for him to have to think about the number of bullets he had left.

He felt nothing for those he killed.

Heejin had never hated anyone more than she was hating him in that moment. The idea that any one of them could get caught in the middle of his anger and end up the same way the rest of the people had back there was terrifying.

Limping down the hallway to try to keep up with the pace that Chanwoo and Yerim were moving at, Heejin prayed that no one else tried to stop them.

She could see into several of the rooms thanks to the glass walls, and saw that most of them were just desks with bookcases surrounding them. It looked like a simple facility where a large amount of people worked, though nothing was hinted at what they were working towards. There weren't any people in those rooms, thankfully, and Heejin hoped that they would reach wherever Chanwoo's objective was so that the killing would have to stop.

Seeing how his steps were slowing down to a leisurely walk, Heejin suspected that they had arrived.

This was possibly the biggest room that they had encountered so far, and judging from the way it reached high towards the ceiling, they were likely at the center of the building. A series of clean metallic tables with different scientific equipment scattered atop of it covered the room, and papers stacked on top of one another lined the edge of each desk. Bright computer screens stared back at them through the glass windows, though it was too far away for Heejin to make out what the contents of it read.

Chanwoo gestured for Yerim to go first.

While the two figured out how they were going to get through the glass door that appeared to be locked, Heejin tried to focus on how she was going to get out of this situation.

There had to be reason why Chanwoo hadn't done anything to get rid of her yet. Initially she had thought her sole purpose was to get them into the building safely, but now that they had infiltrated the facility without much restraint and nothing had happened to her, she suspected that that wasn't the case. Which meant that Chanwoo needed her for something else. She just wasn't sure what that something else had to do with her, since she knew practically nothing about anything.

In the midst of her internalized rant, something caught her attention in her peripherals.

Heejin turned to look down the hallway adjacent to the room and everything stopped.

The last person she had been expecting to see was standing there, paralyzed in their place. Which didn't really make sense since he should have been the top person on her list she was expecting.

Her father, dressed in a clean white robe that fitted comfortably over his formal wear. Stubble lined his tense jaw as if he hadn't shaved in a while, along with the tired bags under his frozen eyes and the wrinkles of past experiences of worry carved into his face. His hair was as unkempt as the rest of his appearance, sticking out at the side as if he had been asleep on his desk because he overworked himself (as usual). Heejin had never seen the man who stressed the perfect ideals of a work place look this 'unprofessional', and seeing it for the first time was as if she were starting at a completely different person entirely.

The first thing her mind did was panic. She had left her parents with a simple message saying that she hadn't wanted to push through with their plan and ignored the messages they sent in response. On top of that, she had lost track of her phone and hadn't contacted them or any of their family friends to tell them of her whereabouts. She had missed school for three days in a row, now.

But then she remembered that she had been kidnaped and tortured for information she didn't have.

And her father seemed to be processing this information himself because any traces of anger dissipated from his face and morphed into worry. After all, the glaringly obvious bruise marring the side of her face along with her bandaged up wrists had to serve as evidence for her struggle.

The second thing her mind did was begin to blare alarms to tell her to do something. For the first time in a while, she genuinely longed to rush into her father's arms for the comfort and safety she was seeking.

Images of people's bodies shaking as bullets dug into their flesh filled her mind, their blood staining the inside of her mind. How certain Chanwoo had been when he had pulled the trigger with no hesitation. No questions asked as to who the people were and whether they had families or pets. (Perhaps that's what made it easier for him to do it -- having no attachment to the victims.)

Heejin felt her father boring his eyes into her, silently questioning if it was what he thought it was. Her head moved automatically, the education that her parents had ingrained into her coming into play as she nodded a confirmation at him.

When she saw his hand move to his hip, her eyes widened.

'No', she mouthed at him. She tried shaking her head as hard as she could to try to emphasize the urgency, but his eyes were already trained on Chanwoo.

Grip on Chaewon loosening, Heejin took a step in her father's direction. If she could get to him in time, she would be able to convince him to leave as soon as possible and call for reenforcements. She would stall Chanwoo for as long as possible until they arrived, and then everything would be okay. After all, she wouldn't be able to go one on one with him when he had a gun.

She watched in terror as her father raised the gun with trained accuracy. He aimed directly for Chanwoo's head.

Chanwoo's head snapped in his direction. Heejin broke into a run.

A gunshot made her ears ring painfully, but she ignored it and continued to move towards where her father had just taken his shot.

She couldn't hear anything. There was nothing going through her mind aside from pushing her father out of the way. It was possible, she just had to reach out and tug his arm to get him to move to the side.

She could reason with Chanwoo to spare his life. Or, if her father had managed to land a bullet in his head and end the madness, she could explain everything to her father.

Another gunshot rung out. Followed by another.

Heejin's hand wrapped around her father's bicep and with all of the strength in his body, she pulled him to the side.

When instead of stumbling over his own feet as he should have done his weight collapsed over his two legs, Heejin felt the life being drained from her body. She could feel warmth on her skin like boiling water scorching her chin and neck. She could taste metal on her tongue and smell the stale scent in the air.

A scream left her as she followed his body to the floor, falling on her knees as she tried to keep his head from smacking against the hard marble floor. Her eyes didn't move from the pained scowl on his face that tugged his features into an ugly expression. Hands moving to cradle his face, Heejin repeatedly tried calling out to him no matter how many times her voice cracked.

"Jin-ah." A bloody cough flew from his mouth. His large, warm hands tried reaching to cover hers but faltered when he groaned in pain.

Heejin grabbed at his fingers, wrapping hers around his thumb when his hand was too heavy to hold. She was sobbing, but she could barely hear herself as she tried to search for the wound.

"Heej... stop..." His voice was the only thing that rang out in her head, but she ignored it and located the hole in his chest. It was staining his baby blue shirt she had seen him wear before in his office back at home. She was sure that they would be able to wash out the offending color if they followed the instructions on the back of the laundry soap. It would still look as presentable as he always wanted it to be if they tried.

When her hand hovered over the bullet wound, she realized that she had no idea what she was doing.

She didn't know how to treat a bullet wound.

"A-Appa, we can- we can call the ambulance..." Heejin desperately grabbed at his white robe, keeping a tight grip on it. "We-we have enough for the surgery- they can help- they can fix this-"

"Jin-ah," he looked at her with soft eyes.

"N-no. Don't say my name like that." Heejin spat, irrational anger overriding all of her senses. "Don't say it like- like you're giving up. You're not giving up."

The expression didn't leave his face as his head went limp against the floor. There were a limited amount of times when her father had let down his guard, and this being one of them only meant that he was letting death take him. She could see it in the way his eyes were full of the love she had been yearning for all of her life.

"Please, please, please..." Heejin fell against him, her forehead resting on the back of his hand. "Please, I never ask for anything. I never asked for the guitar that I wanted for Chris-Christmas- I never asked for the wrist support for my sprain-"

Her father distractedly touched her wrists at her words, a frown settling on his face when the pads of his fingers touched her bandages. "I'm sorry."

"I-I never asked for a f-family holiday or-or-"

He softly shook his head, the sadness in his eyes more prominent than ever.

"Please, I'm asking you one thing." Heejin begged, her nails cutting into the palm of her hand and forming crescents. She could barely see through the fog of tears, but she could make out the way her father was staring at her as if she was his whole world and she wanted more of it. She wanted to be greedy and be able to feel it every single day for the rest of her life.

As his eyes began to drift off, Heejin's pleads became more desperate. Rather than coherent sentences, she was sputtering nonesense. Her breaths were ragged and heavy. The taste of iron in her mouth was indiscernible to distinguish between the cuts in her throat or the blood that had splattered from her father's chest into her face. His hand was slipping from hers, and she just desterately tried to thread their fingers together to try and have something that would bind him to consciousness. She was doing everything in her power to make him stay awake and tell her what to do like he always did, but only short breaths were coming from his lips.

"Please," she whimpered weakly, "I love you, Appa."

Heejin watched as he closed his eyes.

One last time, he squeezed her hand.

She watched as he wheezed several times.

He squeezed her hand. Once, twice... three times.

Watched as the life left his body.

Felt hers struggle to carry on with the knowledge that he had had his life ripped from him. Ripped from her.

-

"Why didn't you at least try to remember the way?"

Hyejoo grumbled under her breath and decidedly ignored her, powering on forward through the maze of concrete hallways without any particular direction.

As if on their behalf, Yeojin spun around to give her an irritated glare that made Hyunjin's fingers twitch at her side, itching to flick her forehead as hard as she could. "Look, it's not like we had time to ask one of the lovely vampires for the directions to your cell." She flicked her hair over her shoulder with her tiny hand, almost hitting Hyejoo in the face in the process. "You're lucky that we got to you in time before those men decided to take you hostage. Without us you could have-"

Yeojin's sentence was cut off as she whined, cradling the back of her head. Hyejoo returned her hand to her the pocket of her hoodie, as if she were just casually strolling in her own home. "You keep saying 'us' but it's literally just 'me' doing all of the work." As much as Hyejoo seemed like she was full of herself, she had a point.

"That's only because you're not giving me a chance to go against any bad guys!" Yeojin rebutted, hopping up and down in frustration as she tried to meet Hyejoo's half-lidded eyes. "You're basically kill stealing me."

"It's not a kill steal if it's not your kill in the first place." Hyejoo bounced back without any hesitation, the answer ingrained into her mind. "Besides, what can you do? Talk to them until they die of boredom?"

The gasp that was produced from Yeojin's small chest was so sharp that it made Hyunjin jump, the paranoia getting to her. She looked as if she were genuinely offended, and Hyunjin momentarily felt sorry for her because she didn't seem like she had any bad intentions. "You don't have to remind me, Unnie." There was a tone to her voice that hinted that she was hurt, but Hyejoo hadn't really picked up on it. (Either because she was oblivious or she didn't care.) "It's not like I don't not want awesome powers."

"The day you get powers is the day we all die," Hyejoo deadpanned.

"You wanna bet?" Yeojin squeaked, leaning into Hyejoo challengingly.

"Get away from me." Hyejoo pushed her away as if she were pushing away a needy puppy, except she seemed to do it with more disgust than care.

Fired up, Yeojin continued to jump at Hyejoo. (It was amusing to watch her try to reach her eye-level.) "You'll see- when I get powers I'll challenge you to a fight." The corner of Hyunjin's mouth tugged upwards, the dogged determination almost adorable if she wasn't telling herself it was anything but. "You won't be able to say anything then."

Raising a mocking eyebrow, Hyejoo side-eyed her. "You wanna bet?" She raised her voice at a higher pitch, doing a bad impression of Yeojin.

"You're so mean, Unnie!" Yeojin's lower lip stuck out, and Hyunjin had to take the time to think back to when she was sixteen to remember if she was this childish. "I hope karma bites you in the ass."

Hyejoo merely rolled her eyes, not bothering with a response at all. Instead, she looked around them with those bored eyes. When she abruptly stopped, Hyunjin almost bumped into her back from the hastiness of it. "Great, now we're back to where we started."

Hyunjin looked around and saw that she was correct. They were back in the same hallway where a series of bodies were piled up, the blood still there and still glistening as brightly as it had been half-an-hour ago. And now her impatience was beginning to get to her, because it was just a reminder of what she had gone through in that cell. A reminder of the news that had been broken to her.

"Screw this." Pushing past Hyejoo, Hyunjin decided to take the lead instead. She heard the younger girl mutter something under her breath but decided to ignore it.

Jinsoul was dead. The syndicate had decided to execute her and that was what had happened. But it was unjust and shouldn't have happened at all, so now she had a vendetta against them. If they had taken her family away from her, then she would take everything from them, and she would start with their leader.

Doing her best to hone her hearing, Hyunjin listened out for the cold voice within all the distant chaos. She could hear the shouts and piercing screams of government operatives above ground, and could make out the distinct sound of gunshots being fired at a terrifying rate. (It was impossible to tell, but she thought she heard savage growls amongst it all.) But that wasn't what she was looking for, so she continued to stride down the hallways until she could pick up the slightest trace of what she was looking for.

Behind her, Yeojin continued to bicker with Hyejoo (despite it being one-sided from the former's part) but they kept up with her pace. It was as if they weren't taking any of this seriously- no, they most certainly weren't taking it seriously, which was what had gotten them in that situation in the first place.

All that Hyunjin wanted to do was return Yeojin to Haseul safely and then carry out her plan.

Not even a minute into her little expedition, the corner of her eye started to twitch. Her annoyance was getting the best of her, and she could just barely take Yeojin's whiny voice as she barely even tried to keep her volume to a reasonable level.

"Can you be quiet?" Hyunjin snapped as she spun around to scold the small girl. In response, Yeojin jumped backwards and raised her arms as if she were prepared to fight back. "Not only is it hard to concentrate, but anyone could find us in two seconds with how loud you're talking." Her voice was filled with venom, hoping to scare the younger girl into silence. "This is serious. People are dying up there. You could die."

Briefly, she pictured what it would look like if one of the syndicate members got their hands on Yeojin. The screams that had rung out in the silent court still haunted her. Despite her irritation and current dislike for her in that moment, the image that plastered itself in her mind was enough for her to choke on her words immediately. It wasn't anything she ever wanted to see happening to someone that she knew. Not when Yeojin had so many people that cared about her. Especially not after what happened to Jinsoul.

"Ha, as if I'm not aware of that already." Yeojin tried playing it off, but her voice still wavered as her eyes scanned the stone walls with blood-stained hand marks.

Hyejoo warily eyed Hyunjin, scanning her with precaution and uncertainty.

"Then please, just be quiet-"

Footsteps.

And a lot of them.

Reflexively, Hyunjin gestured for them to be quiet.

"But you're the one talking-"

Hyejoo unforgivingly slapped a hand over Yeojin's mouth and tugged her into her side, engulfing her almost entirely with her black attire. She too was concentrating on trying to listen out for anything, but from the frustration on her pout it was evident that Hyunjin was the only one who could hear it.

They were storming from where they had come from, which only meant that the entrance that they had been looking for was down the one hallway that they had decided not to take. Theirs was a one-way system, meaning that they had no options for which direction they wanted to take. So obviously, Hyunjin had no other choice than to tug the two younger girls with her as she took off in the opposite direction of whoever it was that was down there.

The end of the cobblestone hallway was visible, offering a turn to the left for them to take. If they made it there in time, they would be able to take a turn and have time to make a plan that would lead them back to the entrance safely. (After all, they had Yeojin with them, which meant that her and Hyejoo couldn't take any risks.) Hyunjin was already thinking of ways they would be able to keep Yeojin hidden as her and Hyejoo dealt with the obvious obstacles. Or, if they were lucky, they would find an extra exit by miracle.

Insistingly, the footsteps didn't give up.

"There!"

Glancing over her shoulder, Hyunjin saw how the government operative that had shouted first raised his large gun at them. She couldn't see his face under all the protection, but it was as if she could see the exact expression he was pulling.

And it wasn't one of a merciful man.

When the gunshot sounded out, she froze.

She could see the bullet traveling through the air as if in slow-motion. Saw how it glinted with murder and spite. Her heartbeat slowed considerably and a pressure formed in her chest from the withheld breath she had captured there. Moving her eyes, she followed it's future trajectory towards them.

Gritting her teeth, she spurred forward and with her whole body pushed Yeojin, knocking her limply into Hyejoo who cushioned her against the wall.

Her body stumbled back from the effort, and she bent over to breathe normally again.

When another blast followed, she reacted faster this time.

Using her speed to her advantage, she wrapped her arm around Yeojin's waist as she was falling to the floor and her other doing her best to scoop Hyejoo into her grip. It was easy to lift Yeojin off of the floor due to her near weightlessness, but Hyejoo's movements appeared sluggish. And that cost her some time as her grip struggled to get a steady hold on her body.

The bullet whistled past her head, just barely missing her. By then a storm had been fired.

Grunting, Hyunjin pressed both of the girls' bodies against hers and ran as hard as the muscles in her legs would let her. She had never had any reasons to test it, but she hoped that sanguisuges could run faster than the speed that bullets traveled at.

Otherwise all three of them would be dead.

Hyunjin's heart was in her throat. She could hear the torrents of blood rushing in her ears. Could feel every single muscle in her body that strained under her effort.

At the speed she was traveling at, it would take time to slow down so that she wouldn't crash against the wall at the end of the hallway. Time that was far too valuable to waste.

In that moment, her mind took her back to the times she used to push herself during athletics training. More specifically, to an activity that they had had participated in during one of the sports events for fun. She had never really been a fan of obstacle courses, though now that she thought about it it did help with her reaction time. And she realized that if she wanted any of them to survive the onslaught of bullets chasing them, she would have to at least try to take the risk to use some of her old skills in that moment.

Calculating the distance between her steps and the wall, Hyunjin inhaled sharply. The movement would have to be purely instinctual. Her brain couldn't think fast enough to keep up with the speed.

Even if she wanted to close her eyes and pray for it to be over, she couldn't. So she stretched her eyes and gritted her teeth.

With a leap, she jumped at the wall. The bottom of her shoe smacked against the cobblestone, pain shuddering up her ankle and into her calf. Ignoring it, she bent her knee to cushion her weight before using the momentum to push them down the turn. For a moment, she thought that her shoe would scuff on the wall and they'd be done for. But miraculously, she had gathered enough power for her foot to dig into the stone and form a small foothold. It was just enough to send them bouncing against the floor from the force before their bodies sprawled in different directions.

Hyunjin clenched her eyes shut, the skin on her body screaming from where it had been grazed.

Had Yeojin and Hyejoo-

"Shit~"

The elongated curse was enough to tell Hyunjin that Yeojin was still conscious.

Hyejoo pushed herself up from where she was curled up against the wall, a grimace on her scratched up face. It was likely that she had hit it upon impact. "I'm going to kill them," she growled, her eyes darkening considerably. Gingerly with the back of her hand, she touched her nose and frowned even more. "I'm going to fucking kill them."

Surprised, Hyunjin cautiously observed as Hyejoo stretched out her hands at her side as if they were literal weapons. The same black essence from earlier oozed out like smoke, licking at the air with a hunger that was too savage to be controlled. Without any traces of hesitation in her body, she stalked back to the hallway where the government operatives were beginning to storm down. Hyunjin could see the anger in her tense shoulders and her flexed fingers, and momentarily she reminded herself not to get on Hyejoo's bad side. (She seemed to have an incredibly short temper.)

Realizing what was about to happen, Hyunjin jumped up from her position.

"Hyejoo, wait-"

Black smoke whipped around the corner and produced a grunting sound from one of its victims.

Panicked gunshots followed promptly, but Hyejoo swung her arm so fiercely that the chaos was reduced to two only two sources.

Hyunjin ran towards Hyejoo, looking at the bullets that had been fired at her. None of them looked like they were going to hit her, but Hyunjin didn't want to take any chances so she pulled her away from the line of fire.

Hyejoo took that moment to growl something at her (most likely in irritation) before she swiftly flicked her fingers and sent the gust of black smoke piercing through the men's chests. Their deaths were almost instantaneous, which was considered merciful when Hyejoo could have easily missed their hearts and let them bleed to death.

"I had it under control." Hyejoo glared at her, now turning to her with her chest puffed out pridefully. Never mind the fact that her nose had begun to let a stream of crimson fall to her upper lip.

It wasn't like she had been expecting a 'thank you', but she also hadn't expected nor wanted to be attacked for doing something that was right. Annoyed that her act of kindness had been discarded so easily, Hyunjin stepped forward. "You would have died." There was a lot more emotion in her voice than she herself had been expecting, and it took her so much by surprise that whatever rant she had had prepared died on its way out. She futilely gaped at empty air, trying to spark that anger again to keep her going, but nothing was coming to her.

"That's for me to decide." Stubbornly, Hyejoo stared her down, the smoke swarming her hands still ignited.

For some reason, the words struck Hyunjin hard.

"Woah, Unnie, chill." Yeojin squeezed herself between them, pressing the small palm of her hand to Hyejoo's chest and pushing her away from Hyunjin. "They're dead, it's okay now -- Hyunjin-unnie was just trying to be helpful," the girl swiveled to look up at her, a pointed expression on her face, "right?"

Hyunjin was breathing heavy. She was doing her best not to think about Jinsoul, scared that if she let herself do that for too long then she would just dissolve into nothing, but the words kept swirling in her mind. It was almost impossible for her not to think how Jinsoul had allowed herself to be executed when she had the power to stop it. When Hyunjin had given her the perfect opportunity to escape from that sentence. Only because it was for Jinsoul to decide. Not her.

"See?" Yeojin insistingly tried to catch Hyejoo's eyes from where they were trying to dig holes into Hyunjin's face. "Now can we please get out of here? It's starting to reek of blood."

Reluctantly, Hyejoo looked away first. "I just want to go home already," she mumbled broodingly, tugging her facemask back over her nose.

Hyunjin took a deep breath. If she was being fair, she agreed with Hyejoo on that. She just wanted to go back home and collapse on her bed and sleep for several days straight.

But they had to get out of there first if she wanted to do that, and with all of the government operatives seemingly running around along with the surviving syndicate members, that proved to be a difficult task. One that she wouldn't let neither Yeojin or Hyejoo lead (be it age order or experience) so she took charge and strode back the way they had come.

Fortunately, the dying rays of sunlight shone down on the steps, signaling that they had indeed found the entrance.

Grateful for the burst of fresh air, Hyunjin let herself have the pleasure of closing her eyes and taking a small break. She didn't want to think about how long they had kept her in there, but judging by the dying light she guessed that a day had already passed since they had locked her up.

"I know where to go from here." Yeojin chirped happily, bouncing past Hyunjin with energy she technically shouldn't have been able to have. "Follow me, guys!"

Repressing the urge of scolding the excitable ball of fluff currently skipping her way through a small field of grass, Hyunjin focussed on looking out for any possible signs of danger. It seemed that despite all her big talk and immense amount of pride, Hyejoo didn't have the mind to care about the possibility of being attacked again. Her hands were shoved back in her pockets as if she hadn't just killed several people in the span of ten seconds, and her eyes were back to being half-lidded as if she were about to fall asleep in the middle of walking. (Something Hyunjin couldn't really put past her, judging her apathetic behavior.)

Hyunjin could see the light at the end of the tunnel. All they had to do now was go to the meeting point Hyejoo was talking about.

Of course, the moment she let down her guard something had to happen.

A burst of energy sped across from them, and Hyunjin almost thought that she had just seen an obscure fireball thrown from the temple. But then she looked closer and could make out the figure of one of the Elders in the blur, desperately running for their lives and completely disregarding them.

Alert in case she came back, Hyunjin moved to stand closer to Yeojin and placed a hand on her shoulder.

However that didn't really appear to be necessary when she saw what happened next.

Another blur dashed across, and Hyunjin's eyes trained themselves on it.

Pawing on four legs, the monstrosity's large claws picked up dirt from the grass and flung them behind it as a way to have grip. It's long jaw hung open, revealing a familiar sharp set of teeth so keen that could almost cut on sight and giving way for a howling scream that shook the bones out of her. Red gleamed from it's beady eyes, feral hunger in the grimace that squinted its eyes. Behind it, it's tail swung wildly in a motion that looked as if it helped it propel across the field of grass and towards the retreating sanguisuge.

Fear settled in Hyunjin.

"We have to go." Her arm wrapped around Yeojin's waist again, pulling her towards her body with urgency.

"U-Unnie! I'm not a sack of potatoes!" Yeojin struggled in her hold, her hands fighting against her stomach uselessly. "You can't just pick me up whenever you please!"

Hyunjin ignored her and decisively looked at Hyejoo, who had a grudging look to her eyes. "We'll move faster," was her explanation as she offered her arm out to her, a strange form of a peace offering.

But Hyejoo remained rooted to her place, eyeing her hand suspiciously.

It wasn't until they all heard the blood-curdling scream that Hyunjin let herself forcefully wrap Hyejoo in her arm and pull her against her more securely than she had earlier. If she had to drag the two stubborn children away kicking and screaming, she would do it in a moment's notice without anyone having to tell her. (She was far more stubborn than either of them, and that was the one thing they wouldn't take from her.)

She ran until she was back in the temple having found a quiet area where there weren't sanguisuge fighting against any of those monstrosities that had attacked her and Heejin several days ago. The number of government operatives were fewer, but she had seen some of them taking cheap shots at distracted sanguisuge.

Hyejoo immediately pushed her away when they stopped, dusting herself off. Yeojin groaned under her breath, her hands gripping at the forearm holding her up.

"Yeojin?"

Hyunjin snapped her head in the direction of the voice.

Luck had presented itself to them as if guilty for the past situations they had been flung into. Somehow, Hyunjin had managed to stop in the same room where Haseul (for some reason) had been standing in. And behind her were Vivi and Jungeun standing over a pile of debris, too distracted with their task at hand to notice the new arrival.

The woman was dressed in too many layers for a hot summer night like this one, though judging by the knife at her side she had come prepared to fight. Despite that detail, the way she stood in such blatant shock and surprise in the middle of such a tall room made her look terribly harmless and small. All Hyunjin could associate with her appearance was that warmth and motherly feel she always exuded without fail. And with the prior events that had taken place over the span of two days, it was all Hyunjin could ever ask for from the world.

Haseul's face crumbled into absolute horror when Yeojin gathered the strength to lift her head and look at who was talking to her. "I thought I told you to stay in the car!" She shouted at her, her fist already raised.

"I got bored." Yeojin argued back, crawling out of Hyunjin's arm before taking refuge behind her taller stature. "Plus, Hyejoo asked me to go with her."

"No I didn't."

Yeojin looked towards the brooding girl with a betrayed gasp. "We both know you would have gotten lonely."

"No, I wouldn't have."

When she was close enough, Haseul reprimanded her with a smack to the back of her head. She quickly silenced the cry of pain with a fierce hug, mumbling threats into her ear that Yeojin countered loudly with her own protests.

Hyunjin continued to stare at Haseul's face, searching for something. What that something was, she had no idea, but it felt like it had to be done. Like if she didn't, then it would do more damage to herself than she was prepared to handle. And Haseul's relieved expression as she hugged her little sister as if she had just come back from the dead made her yearn.

"You owe me and Hyejoo-unnie dinner, by the way." Yeojin's voice was mumbled by Haseul's shoulder, though it was still audible. "We found Hyunjin-unnie before you did."

At the mention of her name, Haseul's eyes opened to meet Hyunjin's. There was another shocked expression on her face, though this time filled with more relief than frustration that had been aimed at Yeojin. Brown hues danced down Hyunjin's faltering body, as if doing a quick scan.

"You're bleeding," was the first thing that Haseul said to her, pushing Yeojin slightly as the girl complained about being hugged for too long. A professional expression filled Haseul's face as she reached Hyunjin, her soft hands grabbing her by the elbow gently as if to steady her. "You've been shot... was it one of the soldiers?"

Hyunjin slowly blinked at Haseul, trying to process all of her words at once. Had she said she had been shot? Where? Looking down cautiously, Hyunjin saw how her shirt had been stained a dark red, a hole pierced into it from where the bullet had burrowed itself into her shoulder. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline that she hadn't felt it all this time. And to think that she carried Yeojin with that arm. She had probably gotten it when she had pushed Yeojin away from the flight path of the bullet that would have blown her brains out.

"It doesn't hurt?" Haseul frowned. Slowly, she peeled the wet fabric of the shirt from her skin.

"Unnie..." Hyunjin felt her lower lip trembling.

"What? What is it?" Panicked, Haseul searched her eyes for any signs of pain. "Does it hurt?"

Hyunjin knew that sympathy was the worst thing to recieve when on the verge of tears. Just being asked if she was hurt was enough to break down the resolve she had been trying so hard to keep. It was as if someone asking her if she was hurt was an unspoken form of permission that told her it was okay to be hurt. That it was normal for her to be hurting the way that she was. And that's why the tears sprung from her eyes far more easily than she would have liked. Even if she knew that Yeojin and Hyejoo were looking at her in that moment.

Wordlessly, Haseul buried her head into the crook of her neck, avoiding the shoulder that had been shot. Her hand tightened on her elbow, squeezing harder in comfort.

It wasn't the comfort she had grown used to, but it sufficed.

Her cries were silent. She only knew she was crying because of the moisture sliding down her lips.

Taking a deep breath, she tried her best to compose hereslf and found herself snivelling pitifully. She had other things to worry about in that moment, and that included the bullet wound she apparently had.

"What's going on?" Hyunjin managed to ask when she pulled away from Haseul despite the woman's obvious complaints. She looked towards where Vivi and Jungeun were still standing on pieces of rubble, talking in hostile voices. "Did anything bad happen?"

Haseul sighed, having apparently come to the conclusion that Hyunjin wasn't going to let herself become weak again. "We were looking to get you out since Vivi said that you had been arrested by the syndicate, but-" With a tired gesture of the hand, she pointed towads where Jungeun had just stomped her foot against the rubble. "-we ran into one of the leaders of the syndicate. At least that's what I've been told..."

Leaders.

The only leader of the syndicate Hyunjin was aware of was Doyoung (previously Jinsoul). And she had sworn to herself that she would kill him when she got the chance.

Hyunjin growled.

She surged forward to where Jungeun was stomping down and crashed onto the rubble, ignoring the pain that shot up the same leg she had likely injured from the stunt she pulled earlier. With her wild eyes, she was able to distinguish Doyoung's chiselled, cut up face among all the rubble wearing a pained grimace.

"Kim Doyoung." Raising a clenched fist, Hyunjin aimed directly for his surprised blue eyes.

Just as she was about to pummel her fist into his face, her arm was restrained.

"Hyunjin, stop it." Vivi's teeth were clenched together as she tried her best to prevent her from punching the life out of Doyoung. "You're not thinking."

"No, you're not thinking." Savagely, she ripped her arm from Vivi's grasp and lunged for Doyoung, fisting the collar of his shirt in her hands and heaving him out of the ground. The pained groan that left his mouth was satisfying to hear. "He killed Jinsoul." Saying it out loud made it feel more real. It made it feel more paindul. "I should kill him."

Doyoung coughed.

"Hyunjin," Jungeun's hoarse voice interrupted, her hands digging into the flesh of her upper arm. "Hyunjin, listen to us first." When Hyunjin easily slipped her arm from his grasp, she used a new tactic and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Hyunjin!"

Jungeun's voice vibrating in her back was different. It made her feel something other than the blind anger clouding her vision. It made her stop to listen momentarily.

"Jinsoul isn't dead."

Jungeun squeezed her with her arms.

"Jinsoul isn't dead, Hyunjin."

Disbelief took over her completely, unwilling to believe a word coming out of Jungeun's mouth. Why would she say that? Why would she lie to her about this? "Why are you lying?" She spat out, turning to look at Doyoung's blank face again. Just the unreadability to it made her boil. Her fingers gripped tighter at his collar as she pulled him closer to her face. "He told me he killed her. He told me she died."

"I didn't feel her die," Jungeun said, trying to pull her backwards in an attempt to get her away from Doyoung. "You know that my soul is linked to hers -- I would have been able to feel her dying if that were true." Her voice continued to rise the more Hyunjin refused to release Doyoung. "I'm still here. Which means that Jinsoul is too."

Slowly, Hyunjin scanned Doyoung's eyes. She was unable to see any useful information in them, but the minute tug of his eyebrows upward showed her the pity that he held in his eyes when he regarded her. So she squinted disbelievingly at him and looked closer. "Is this true?"

The impatience she felt as she waited for Doyoung's answer was nothing like she had ever felt before. It was a ticking time bomb waiting for the right moment to explode and release all the pent up devastation that had been festering inside of her relentlessly. Whatever his answer would be would decide his fate, and whether or not Hyunjin would get to make him suffer for what he had done to her.

Doyoung smiled numbly. "Yes." His dark blue eyes squinted at her minutely, as if he were silently judging her, before relaxing back to their unbothered state. "We had to run a false trial."

"Jinsoul is alive," Jungeun breathed, her arms not moving from her waist.

Hyunjin's grip faltered.

Doyoung slumped against the rubble, relief all over his face.

"Where..." Her voice cracked. "Where is she?"

It was at that moment that Jungeun loosened her grip. Vivi steadily turned her head to look at Doyoung, her expression settling into the stern one she had been wearing before Hyunjin had interrupted. The man visibly deflated, which shouldn't have been possible because he already looked more defeated than Hyunjin had ever seen someone before. And from the expression that took over his usually consistently blank face, Hyunjin could tell that the following words were not something she would be pleased with.

"They took her."


	25. twenty-five

“Thanks,” Hyunjin said as Haseul leaned back from where she had been tending to her shoulder.

She had had to slip her shirt off in the back of the moving car for their designated doctor to be able to assess the damages done to the muscle. Haseul had emphasized that she wasn’t a surgeon, and she barely classified as a doctor due to the lack of education in that field. Still, they both knew that she was the best they had and knowing the woman’s heightened intelligence in biology, Hyunjin could trust whatever prescription she gave her.

“We’re going to have to get the bullet out somehow.” Haseul’s fingers ran along the first aid kit on her lap. The tell-tale sound of the zipper clinking against itself was almost piercing as it displayed the anxiety that the woman must have been feeling. “I think it would be better if you didn’t use that arm too much – I’m not too good at analyzing bullet wounds or anything, but we don’t want any more of your muscles to get torn. Even if sanguisuges do heal much faster than humans.”

Hyunjin pursed her lips but nodded in agreement to calm the concern that Haseul held for her in her eyes.

Obviously gathering her thoughts, Haseul turned away from her and peered her head towards Jungeun who was sat beside her. “Still no word from Choerry?”

The muscle in Jungeun’s jaw clenched. “No.”

It was evident how much worry had been pent up in the demon’s body from the way her shoulders were wound so tightly. Hyunjin wouldn’t be too surprised if her brown hair began to turn a shade of gray.

“It’s been almost four days now.” Jungeun shifted in her seat beside the window, her eyes briefly meeting Haseul’s before darting back to where they had been set on the scenery outside. “The last time she went missing without a word was straight after Jinsol’s first trial.”

Silence enveloped the seven-seater car.

They had all piled into the car as fast as they could once Doyoung had explained that Jinsoul had been taken by government operatives during the surprise attack. Despite Hyunjin’s blatant distaste for the man, even she understood that he was the only one who knew the plausible location they were taking her. So that was how the leader of the syndicate ended up sitting in the passenger seat beside Vivi and giving directions to what would be the government’s beehive.

“Do you-“ When Haseul stopped herself halfway to glance at Hyunjin beside her, the latter perked up from where she had been dazedly staring ahead. “Do you think her disappearance has something to do with Heejin going missing?”

Hyunjin frowned deeply. In the back of her mind, she had been wondering about Heejin’s safety. It had been difficult to remain on that topic when she had been so wrapped up in mourning, not wanting to think too deeply into something that could disappoint her. However, with Haseul speaking her name aloud for her unsuspecting ears to hear, it was an uphill battle trying to keep all the paranoid thoughts from flooding into her brain.

Regardless of the reluctant expression on Jungeun’s face, she seemed to mull over the preposition carefully. “That’s the last thing I want to happen right now, but,” the words seemed to catch in her throat. “Choerry disappeared while she was visiting Heejin. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had something to do with it.”

Anxiety began to bubble inside of Hyunjin. Aside from the fact that Heejin’s parents had been deeply involved with the government and were aware of sanguisuge existence, there was nothing else about Heejin that proved to be a threat. There was the possibility of Yerim caring deeply about Heejin, as she had proven when she had told her to stay away from her the first time that they met. Though proving to be an uncomfortable thought, Hyunjin wouldn’t doubt the lengths that Yerim would go to in order to protect the people that she loved. And seeing as Heejin had been locked up in a hostile situation, if Hyunjin were in Yerim’s shoes she would have done the same thing.

Haseul made a sour face as she sunk back into the white seat. Her hand absently traveled to Hyunjin’s good shoulder, pressing her fingers into it.

Ignoring the toiling in her stomach, Hyunjin clenched her fists together and tried focussing on something other than that.

“And you’re sure it was the government that took Jinsol?” Jungeun interrupted whatever directions Doyoung was giving to Vivi. The man had been wincing through his wounds, which had looked more gruesome than what Hyunjin had been expecting. “You’re not devising some side plan that will get her killed?”

“It was never my intention to get her killed,” he clipped, though he remained wary of the aggressive posture. “It’s true that almost everyone in the syndicate wanted her gone – even some of the Elder’s were eager to assume her position once everything was over – but I never shared their views.”

Even if hearing the reassurance coming directly from him wasn’t enough to soothe the sick feeling in Hyunjin’s stomach.

Because of his lie, she had murdered a man in blind rage. Her fingers had been inside of his neck, and she had watched the life drain from his body and enjoyed it. In those moments, she had stood over the corpse of a man who had done nothing wrong to her and thought that he had deserved it.

If there was a point of no return, then she felt that she had crossed it.

Under situations of extreme stress and pressure, someone’s true character manages to come out.

Somewhere along the way she had managed to morph into the worst thing that she could possibly become. There was murder in the creases of her hands and underneath her fingernails, and she was sitting in the back of a car knowing that there wouldn’t be any consequences to punish her for her actions. She still had people around her who cared about her and bandaged her up when she was injured. She wordlessly sat amongst them as if she were an equal, when she was just a dangerous monster.

Hyunjin felt the guilt folding in on itself.

“Ever since the revolt of the 1840s, Jinsol has been the most respected sanguisuge, even to the government.” Doyoung’s voice was surprisingly neutral and held no disdain. “She’s the only reason why the sanguisuges today can have the freedom that they have, and she’s the reason why we can call ourselves a civilized species. I owe her my life, and so do all the other sanguisuges in the syndicate.”

“So why did you send Chiwon and his goons to capture her?” There was a hint of bitterness in Jungeun’s voice that Hyunjin could relate to. “Why not let her continue live peacefully?”

“You don’t understand what it’s like to be in a position of power.” Rolling his eyes, Doyoung adjusted in his seat and told Vivi to take the next turn. “I was aware that Jinsol had broken out of the ground as soon as it happened and trust me when I tell you that I tried my best to keep it quiet for as long as I could.” He glanced towards the red-haired woman beside him, his eyes meaningful. “I even sent Viian in her direction to try and help her.”

Surprised, Vivi jolted in her seat. The car lurched in response, and Yeojin made a sound of displeasure. “What are you talking about?” she asked once she managed to get the vehicle under control.

The corner of Doyoung’s mouth tugged up slightly in amusement as he side-eyed her. “What, did you think that I would send just you to look for the woman who murdered all of the Olde sanguisuges if I wanted her captured?”

Vivi gaped at air. Hyunjin could see the wheels in her head turning as she tried processing. “But…” her eyes desperately searched Doyoung’s expression, though she hastily returned them to the road. “So, when you told me to capture her… how did you know that I would go against you? That I wouldn’t just bring her back to you like you said?”

“I didn’t.” The answer was blatantly simple, so much that it caught Vivi off-guard. “I just hoped that you my assumption about you was correct and you would try to help her instead.” A smug smile nestled itself on Doyoung’s face, contrasting the previous image of him that Hyunjin had assumed to be cold. “More for your sake than hers, but honestly I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to go out looking for you when you didn’t come back to report.”

“So, all of this time…” A glaze covered Vivi’s eyes as she lost herself in her own thoughts. “You knew that I was helping her?”

Scoffing, Doyoung sat up straighter in his seat and pointed her in the correct direction. “Of course, I did.” Distractedly, he looked outside of the window to check their surroundings. “Did you not think that I wouldn’t be able to tell that you were lying when you said that you couldn’t find her?”

Vivi quietly looked ahead, her eyes remaining solely on the road. It was easy to understand her behavior. All this time her cover could have been blown if Doyoung had been like the other sanguisuges and wanted Jinsoul dead.

“You ran a false trial to make them think that she was dead.” Realization coated Hyunjin’s voice as she thought aloud.

It made sense the more she thought about it – after all, it wasn’t the first time that something like this had been pulled in the history of war. Thinking about the tight position that Doyoung must have been in with all the laws that had been breached on Jinsoul’s part, it would only be logical to take that course of action. Unless a civil war was what Doyoung was striving for.

Smile dimming, Doyoung nodded. “The situation with Jinsol was just something that Lords and Ladies like Chiwon wanted to benefit from to climb up the power ladder.” His eyebrows tugged together as his nose scrunched. “But as soon as the government started pressuring us with news of humans dying with wounds that resembled that of a sanguisuge, the syndicate became uneasy. Obviously one of the Lords used the opportunity to spread a rumor about Jinsol being the one behind the attacks, and that leaving her alive was what was causing the rift between the syndicate and the government.”

“You know, right?” Hyunjin met the dim eyes through the rear-view mirror, a shiver running down her spine. “That mutant that was running around – that’s the thing that was causing all the attacks.”

“Yes, it seems like the humans have finally found a way to sever their ties with us.” Doyoung wore a grimace that turned the atmosphere heavy.

The air was thick with tension as Hyunjin confusedly angled her head in question. Vivi’s hands clenched around the steering wheel as she recognised the path that the conversation was going to take.

“The government had always been reluctant to maintain with the peace treaty with us, but they respected it because they respected Jinsol,” Doyoung said. “As soon as Jinsol was knocked from power, the relationship became strained. After all, the treaty stated that the government had to pay for our expenses and financially support us, and because sanguisuges are immortal, it just meant that they were paying off a never-ending debt.

“Their technology has been improving rapidly in the past several years, but most of the Elders were confident that they could continue to maintain peace as long as we compromised to their desires.” A scowl lifted his upper lip. “But an inside source in the government told me that they started doing experiments to create a bio-weapon.”

“Those things are made by the humans?” Hyunjin felt her face go pale.

Heejin’s parents had been involved with the government. Hyunjin had been reading through the text messages that they had sent to her, and how she had been given a task that involved her. Initially she had just suspected that they wanted to kill her off since they viewed her as a monster. But now that she thought about it more carefully, they had just wanted to capture her.

“Don’t tell me…” Vivi’s voice was the darkest Hyunjin had ever heard it.

Something in Doyoung’s face showed a cold, blue fear that made the hairs on Hyunjin’s body rise. “Jungeun, I’m sure that in the middle world you’ve heard of these creatures.”

“Hellhounds?” Jungeun’s voice raised in alarm, her body lurching forward in her seat as panic creased her eyebrows. “They’re creating hellhounds? Don’t you need-”

As Jungeun’s voice caught itself, everyone turned to look at her. Horror-stricken, Jungeun’s wide eyes shook the more she allowed herself to be lost in her own thoughts. Her pupils began to expand, spreading the blackness into the brown. The reaction could be taken as fear, though Hyunjin could barely understand what the deal with ‘hellhounds’ were that made Jungeun react this way.

“What is it?” Haseul, although quiet and hesitant, still pushed with her curiosity.

“You need sanguisuge blood to create a hellhound.” Jungeun deadpanned. Her voice trembled. “A lot of it.”

Vivi startled, glancing back towards Jungeun. “What do you mean?” Panic tightened her voice, spreading the uneasiness to Hyunjin who tried to understand what was happening. “Don’t you need at least need a demon to create a hellhound? That’s why they can only be made in the middle world.”

When she went to answer her back, her expression crumpled into one of pain.

“J-Jungeun-ssi?” Hyunjin leaned forward to get a better look at Jungeun. It looked like she was clutching at her chest, her fingers coiling up the material of her shirt tightly.

Haseul registered her voice and turned to look at the demon. “Oh my god… are you okay?”

“Really Unnie, do you think she’s okay?” Yeojin sarcastically interrupted, poking her head through the seats to look at Jungeun.

“Should I stop the car?” Vivi made to pull the wheel, but Jungeun desperately grabbed her shoulder to stop her from doing so.

Hyunjin felt the anxiety running through her veins as she watched Jungeun keel over in pain. For a moment, her mind went blank. She felt as if she were watching everything from a third person perspective and every sound were being muffled by water. But as soon as she snapped out of it, she tried analyzing what was going on.

Through Haseul’s panicking flailing, she could see Jungeun’s fingers trying to rip at her shirt around the chest area. The sharp tugs and wild yanks held a primal instinct. It was as if there something piercing her chest and she were trying to take it out. Or at the very least prevent it.

“Unnie, take her shirt off.”

Shocked, Haseul snapped her head to look at Hyunjin. “What? Why would I-“

Frustratedly, Hyunjin leaned over Haseul and reached for the bottom of Jungeun’s shirt. “Move, please.”

Jungeun grunted through her clenched teeth as Hyunjin began to tug her shirt up. Her hands were still clutching at the fabric, proving to be a resistance as she refused to let go no matter how many times Hyunjin pulled upwards.

The car swerved as Vivi turned into another road, and Hyunjin momentarily lost her balance and fell into Haseul.

“What are you trying to do?” Haseul was evidently flustered, but it was beginning to frustrate Hyunjin far too much.

“The pain is coming from her chest.” Regaining her balance, Hyunjin tried pulling the shirt over Jungeun’s head that had curled into her knees. Gritting her teeth, she did her best to remain efficient but refrain from pulling any of her hair out in the process. “Jungeun-ssi, sit up please.”

Jungeun groaned in response. At least she could hear what she was saying.

Finally taking note of her words, Haseul helped grab Jungeun’s shoulders to pry her from her position.

Along with her torso, Jungeun brought up her legs so that they’d be curled up against her chest. A small tear streak slipped down her face, but she kept her eyes clenched shut throughout the process.

Hyunjin could make out a faint glow emanating from between the fabric of the shirt, which was still clutched tightly between Jungeun’s fingers, and the perspiring skin. It was coming from the left side of her chest where her heart would likely be. Despite the slight moment she had to take to debate whether she should take Jungeun’s hands from her chest, she proceeded to wrap her fingers around the small wrists.

“Crap.”

She had seen the mark that cut into Jungeun’s skin once before, and the symbol had been engraved into her mind.

In the time she had spent with Jinsoul, she had seen edges of the same symbol peeking from pieces of clothing that hid her chest area. At first, she had just thought that her creator was a conservative person and preferred not to show too much skin, so she resolved to wearing clothing that would cover up her chest. But during the trial, she had barely had enough time to register the blatant mark that had donned her chest in the same area that Jungeun had her. And the two were identical.

Except now Jungeun’s was blazing a bright red color.

The previous ink-like black that had run through the boroughs of the scars was now glowing a hellish color that looked almost hot to the touch.

“What is that?” Haseul breathed, eyes wide as she examined the symbol.

Doyoung watched with a pale expression, though his face betrayed the mild surprise and confusion he was feeling. “It’s a soul pact mark.” He glanced at Vivi, who was having trouble keeping her eyes on the road. “It ties Jungeun and Jinsol together.”

Hyunjin kept her eyes on Jungeun. Even if she wanted to, there was no way she would be able to look away from something as significant as this. Especially not when Jungeun’s breathing was beginning to even out and she was peering through her squeezed eyelids. Small tears fell from her eyes, though she wiped at them quickly.

“Something is happening to Jinsol.” She grunted out, nearly incoherent with the way saliva had been built up in her mouth.

Dread filled Hyunjin. Jungeun had said that if Jinsoul died, she would be able to tell. If the soul pact mark was reacting this bad, then something drastic had to be happening to Jinsoul in that moment.

“What? Is she okay?” Hyunjin pushed forward, trying to grab the demon’s attention.

“We’ll worry about that later,” Haseul steadily guided Jungeun to sit back in her seat with her shaking hands. “For now, is there any way that we can help?”

Jungeun shook her head against the headrest behind her, continuing to wring the shirt out with her hands. It looked like it was calming down, the glowing decreasing to a faint color change in the ink and her breathing beginning to slow once more. Hyunjin could only hope that it was good sign that the pain was decreasing. It could only mean that Jinsoul would be fine and that that was only a scare.

“Uh, sorry to cut in…” Yeojin’s loud voice stepped over Haseul’s fussing and Doyoung’s directions. There was a sheepish smile on her face, though she seemed as if she were slightly anxious. “Hyejoo-unnie has something that she should say.”

Beside Yeojin, the brooding student with her hood pulled up over her head and facemask covering half of her facial features turned to look at the small girl with a glare. Hyunjin had almost forgotten that she was there with how silent the two at the back were being (which was surprising considering that Yeojin had loved to talk Hyejoo’s ear off in the temple).

The two silently argued, Yeojin making exaggerated facial expressions at an immobile Hyejoo who quietly yet firmly stood her ground.

“If she has something to say, she should say it now.” Jungeun growled through her pain, attempting to look back at the two girls before deciding that it would be too painful. A bead of sweat fell down her face.

Despite the encouragement, Hyejoo continued to glare at Yeojin. Her eyes squinted at the smaller girl. Her facemask pushed away from her mouth as she expelled a huff before she turned away from Yeojin’s expressively wide eyes and looked straight ahead. She briefly met Hyunjin’s watchful eyes and blankly stared at her.

Grumbling under her breath, Yeojin pointedly turned from Hyejoo and looked at Haseul. “Hyejoo-unnie has been getting messages from that…” She scrunched her nose as she tried remembering what she was talking about. “’Godam goddess person’.”

“It’s Gowon-“ Hyejoo snapped. “-and it wasn’t even her.” Annoyed, the girl shifted in her seat purposefully to bump her shoulder against Yeojin’s. “You’re such a snake.”

“You’ve been getting messages from Gowon?” Vivi tried calling back from where she was busy driving.

After a pause of hesitation, Hyejoo nonchalantly turned to Yeojin. “What did she say?” She quietly asked her, barely hearing the sanguisuge’s voice from where the two were sitting at the very back pressed against one another for space.

“She asked if you’ve been getting messages from Gowon.” Haseul pitched in in place of Yeojin, who seemed like she had also struggled to catch Vivi’s voice. Her hands continued to rub soothing circles on Jungeun’s shoulder, though through the distraction she didn’t seem to notice that it was doing nothing to help the aching from the soul pact mark. “Which, if you have, you should probably explain what they’re saying.”

Hyejoo dangerously leveled her eyes with Haseul. For a moment Hyunjin thought that she would disregard her, but it seemed that even she respected the age gap that they had.

“They’re not messages from Gowon,” Hyejoo said with reluctance in her raspy voice. “They’re from the human host… that small girl?”

“Chaewon?” Hyunjin curiously looked at Hyejoo, who disinterestedly met her gaze. She didn’t seem to care for the correction of the names, but Hyunjin was more than ready to give it to her. They had been butting heads ever since Hyunjin had pulled her out of the bullet’s way, and it was beginning to get on her nerves. “Can I see the messages she’s been sending?”

Rolling her eyes, Hyejoo fixed her hair. “They’re not physical messages.” The pause was filled with hesitation as the girl contemplated on whether to say it or not. “I can hear her voice in Olivia’s headspace.”

“What?” Hyunjin frowned, disbelievingly leaning back and away from the back of the seat.

Yeojin hummed loudly, perking up beside Hyejoo. “It’s basically telepathy, if you want to make it easier to understand.” Excitedly, the girl pushed into Hyejoo’s body to lean her face between the headrests in front of her. “Hyejoo’s Olivia and – what was her name – Godam’s headspaces as linked together so they can talk to each other through there.” When Hyunjin blinked blankly at her, she only tried pushing her head further through the gap. “Like a private chat room.”

Abruptly, a hand enveloped the entirety of Yeojin’s face and pushed her away. Hyejoo disgruntledly shoulder checked the smaller girl, making sure that she was pinned between her body and the back of their seats so she wouldn’t be able to move anymore.

Hyunjin thought about Chaewon sending Hyejoo… messages (the concept was still a little hard to grasp). The two had never formally met one another, and yet they were still tied to one another through the deities that possessed their bodies. Similar to the way that Gowon had infiltrated Hyunjin’s dreams and was able to control her with just several words that made her black out.

It was almost like Jinsoul and Jungeun’s soul pact marks, except that instead of feeling one another’s pain they were able to talk to one another.

“What is Chaewon saying, then?” Hyunjin prompted, uneasy with the way Hyejoo remained reserved despite the obvious panic that filled everyone’s bodies.

After an elbow to the side (courtesy of Yeojin), Hyejoo sneered her eyes behind the facemask and readjusted herself. “She said that if we’re on our way, we should probably hurry up.” Warily, she glanced towards the front where Doyoung and Vivi sat poised in their seats. It was as if she didn’t trust either of them. “And that we should think of an evacuation plan instead of an offensive one.”

Hyunjin tensed in her seat. Chaewon knew that they were going to the government facility, which only meant that she had to be there as well.

“Did she say why?” Haseul shakily looked at Hyejoo’s intimidating, dark eyes. Her voice was as weak as Hyunjin felt, almost as if it would break under the weight of the words that Hyejoo would say next.

Making a smacking sound with her lips, Hyejoo looked at Hyunjin dead in the eyes. “Everyone is already there.”

Hyunjin’s breath halted.

“Jinsoul, Choerry…” At the mention of the names, Jungeun shot up from her slouched position to look at Hyejoo. “…their leader?”

“’Leader’?” Doyoung mumbled quietly.

“And Heejin.”

A mixture of emotions came crashing down on Hyunjin’s shoulders, almost physically jolting her in her place. Her heart throbbed violently in her chest while she blinked to regain her senses.

She mumbled mutely to herself the words to confirm the last thing that she wanted to hear. “They have Heejin.”


	26. twenty-six

Chaewon tried swallowing away the bitter taste on her tongue. It had peppered in her mouth as she had helplessly watched Heejin curl over the limp body of her father, along with that prickling sensation that all of this was her fault.

Maybe if she had let Gowon come out, she would have been able to stop Chanwoo from even pointing that gun at another innocent person. If only she had been stronger like Choerry was, then she would have been able to prevent the scene that had been playing out in front of her from ever happening. Then the bitter taste wouldn’t be tainting her tongue and the faint pressure in the fold of her forefinger where the trigger would be wouldn’t have materialized itself there.

If only she had more control over Gowon, then maybe she-

A stinging in the back of her head interrupted her thoughts, followed by a faint: watch it, sweetie.

Chaewon did her best to swallow her frustration. She sunk in on herself as she felt the threatening power of Gowon’s grip tightening around her mind, reminding her of her true purpose and putting her back in her place.

Even if she had wanted to save Heejin’s father Gowon would have to want the same thing. And knowing the plans that Gowon had for herself, she wouldn’t ever put her life (or the life of her host) on the line of another – much less a human that Chaewon had only laid her eyes on once in her lifetime.

In the split second that her eyes had managed to scan his portrait, she could already comfortable reach the conclusion that he was just an innocent man who got caught in the cross-fire. What Heejin’s father was doing working for the government, she wasn’t too sure. No one at school had ever brought up what Heejin’s parents worked as despite the girl’s popularity among her peers, so she had just assumed it wasn’t anything too significant.

Judging by the absolute horror and surprise on Heejin’s face when she saw him, she wasn’t expecting him either.

Chaewon’s eyes watered for Heejin.

She looked lifeless. Her feet dragged along the marble floors as Chanwoo dragged her by the collar of her shirt, scuffing and stumbling as the tip of her shoes got caught. In comparison to how she had looked at school when she was talking to her friends, with that bright charming grin that had that ambiguous foreign touch to it, Heejin looked like her soul had been taken from her.

Faintly, she could feel Choerry’s cold hand grappling onto hers.

Over the time that she had spent with Chanwoo, Choerry had been the only source of stability and sanity that had been provided to her.

The two of them had quickly bonded over the fact that they had no choice but to go along with Chanwoo’s plans. How Choerry had indebted herself through a favor that would save a person she loved, and how Chaewon’s life had been ‘saved’ by Chanwoo and therefore belonged to him. Chaewon sympathise for her sacrifice and Choerry pitied the unconsented slave contract she had been bound by.

She had wanted to be fearful of Choerry and her cut-throat fangs and her blood-stained lips and the bright purple in her irises. But talking to Choerry was alarmingly comforting and gave her a sense of normalcy that she hadn’t ever had – not even before Gowon took her body as a host.

For once, she wanted to try being the strong one.

Her whole life was spent hiding behind the empty lies fed to her by doctors; hiding behind medication that would keep her going just a week more; hiding behind the idea that perhaps Chanwoo had done her a favor, and it was a privilege to share her body and mind with another person.

Chaewon flexed her clammy fingers, running her thumb over the inside of her palm.

Gingerly, she pried her hand from Choerry’s and hesitantly took a step towards where Heejin continued to reluctantly drag her feet along.

Her eyes were fixated on Heejin’s red stained hand. The limp fingers that naturally curled in on themselves.

That was her father’s blood…

What if Heejin didn’t want her hand being held? Her father had just died right in front of her at the hands of the man who held her by the shirt in that very moment. How would her hand being held help at all?

How fruitless… how conceited of Chaewon to even think that she could help a situation as dire as this one.

No, she should just mind her own business.

“Choerry, restrain her.” Chanwoo barely looked back at them before he released his grip on Heejin’s now crumpled shirt. He immediately headed over to a heavy, metallic door that stood several feet tall and seemed to be bolted shut by a large padlock.

Heejin slumped against the first surface she could reach, clattering against a metallic table before letting her weight fall under her buckling knees.

Immediately, Choerry swooped in and supported her weight, wrapping an arm underneath hers so that Heejin would be leaning her weight on her. There was evident concern on her face as she searched the tear-streaked face, absently wiping at the blood that had transferred onto her cheekbone from where Heejin had wiped at her face earlier. From the way that Choerry held Heejin with superhuman strength to the gentle way that she caringly tried to get her to control her breathing, Chaewon knew just how much she cared about her.

Guiltily, Chaewon looked away from the sight in front of her.

Instead, her eyes scanned the lab that Chanwoo had barged into as if he knew the layout like the back of his hand. (Which knowing the immense detail and effort he put into this, he most likely did.) There were several monitors lining the desks and tables, with blacked out screens as if no one had been there the entire day. The glass walls were clear and gave view to the hallways outside, which remained almost eerily empty if it weren’t for the corpse on the floor.

Feeling sick, she looked towards where Chanwoo was tampering with the padlock.

She knew more or less what they were there for having had to listen to Chanwoo’s vague plan so everything went as he planned. However, she wasn’t too sure if she could trust what he had said to her. It was so ludicrous and crazy that she almost wondered if she was the one that was insane, and momentarily genuinely considered the fact.

He spun on his heel, a determined look on his face as he evened Heejin with a dark glare. “This is where you can make use of yourself.” His voice was cold and emotionless, which was a surprising feat considering how he had liked to play up his part of pretending to care for them. With a harsh motion, he dug his fingers into the flesh of Heejin’s upper arm and tugged her away from Choerry’s supportive arms. “You must already know that your parents ran this lab – so you have to know what the passcode for this padlock is.”

Heejin sagged in his grip, the expression on her face unchanging. It was as if the light had been extinguished inside of her.

“Now, you can do as I ask of you like a good person,” Chanwoo encouraged her towards the heavy metallic door looming over the four of them. “Or you can be punished for going against my request.”

Every muscle in Chaewon’s body was already tense, and she had seen where the situation was headed from the moment that Chanwoo had said that he had found a use for Heejin and that they didn’t need Hyunjin anymore. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t worried for what would happen to Heejin.

She hoped that Heejin would just comply with what Chanwoo asked. Even if he was borderline psychotic and had skewed morals, he would still favor her just as he promised. If there was one thing the man was good at, it was sticking to his word. So all of Heejin’s suffering and pain that she had been withstanding would be over, and she wouldn’t have to endure it for any longer than she had to.

But from the time that she had observed her from the back of a classroom, and how she had watched her defiantly stare back at Chanwoo even if she was chained up like a dog, she knew that Heejin would never listen to what he had to say.

“Screw you.”

Something twisted in Chanwoo’s features. As if he had tasted something completely revolting, the corners of his mouth pulled downwards, and his eyes lit up with an ire that made Chaewon shrink in on herself.

“Heejin…” His voice was dripping with warning. “Enter the passcode into the padlock.”

With wide eyes, Chaewon watched as Heejin blankly stared back at him.

Why was she doing this to herself? She could just so easily end all her suffering and pain by just listening to his request and complying with it. Everything would be over, and no more people would have to die at the hands of this man. Even with Choerry’s power and speed, the three of them couldn’t take on Chanwoo and the control he seemed to have over Gowon. It would be much easier for Heejin to give in to him and then the three of them just fend for themselves.

“Even if I knew what you were talking about-“ Heejin visibly trembled, her voice thick with moisture and an anguish that cut the cords in Chaewon’s heart. “-I would never – ever – do anything for you.”

Following the words promptly was a smack around the face.

Chaewon flinched backwards as if the harsh sound had manifested itself and pushed her away. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest, tears springing to her eyes.

The way that Heejin’s tilted head, knotted hair shielding her face away from the world, remained as still as if she had never been alive sent chills down Chaewon’s spine. Chanwoo held right hand over his shoulder in the position where he had just swung it across the air. There was an unnervingly muted energy to him that held any sound in the room poised to attention.

Heejin mumbled something.

Chaewon only heard incoherent mumbling, but Choerry startled beside her.

Slowly, the beaten down girl looked up from where she had been struck. With a cold stubbornness and hatred that could match whatever determination Chanwoo possessed, Heejin growled out her words.

“Over my dead body.”

Chanwoo ignited. His hand swung back around and struck Heejin on the other side of her face, the epitome of anger presented in his black soulless eyes. From Heejin’s already swollen cheek sprung spurts of blood, coloring her cheeks a crimson that glistened too brightly under the synthetic lights.

Before he could raise his gun at her, Choerry was standing in front of Heejin and holding the barrel of the weapon in her pale hand. Chaewon didn’t think she had ever seen her livider nor terrified at the same time.

Fear trickled into her veins, fearing that any moment now Chanwoo could pull the trigger and send a bullet straight into Choerry’s stomach, sentencing her into the middle world. Instinctively, the tips of her fingers twitched with the impulse of doing something to protect the only positive constant in the life that she had had to suffer all these years. If Chanwoo were to take that away from her, then she would lose all will to carry on despite the deity in her body mercilessly forcing her.

However, as if sensing her moment of impulsivity, a higher force immobilized her to the spot.

Even if she wanted to do anything, she couldn’t with a backseat driver in her body. Though for the first time she struggled against Gowon’s power, trying to fight it – convince herself that she was the host, and so that she was the one who was in control.

Not Gowon.

A heavy weight, numbing and chilling, settled onto her mind and began to press down. It was almost as if a physical force were applied in her brain and freezing the nerves.

It was always like this whenever Gowon wanted to take over. As if there were someone trying to step out from the corner of her brain and make themselves present in her body through whatever means possible. Most of the time it was just a flashing sensation and her consciousness was pulled under a blanket in a matter of moments.

However, this time Chaewon was doing her best to fight back against her.

A headache formed instantly, the corners of her eyes being numbed by a stinging pressure like someone digging their fingers into them. Her vision began turning white from the strain, but this was possibly the longest she’d held Gowon back.

“Chaewon.” Somewhere in the distance, Chanwoo called out to her. “Get Gowon out. If we can’t get the passcode then we’ll just blow this door open.”

As if his words were like a switch, Gowon’s presence engulfed her brain and she felt herself being pulled under.

The sensation of Gowon possessing her body was as if she were watching herself in third person, except someone else had the controls to everything and she didn’t have any input into her actions. It was is if her body were a video game character and a different player was on the controls in that moment while she sat in front of a screen with no controller. Except her mind felt as if it were being enveloped a mildly soothing sensation like rippling waves touching the edges of her consciousness.

That’s how it felt to be in Gowon’s headspace – it was surprisingly peaceful.

Chaewon watched futilely as Chanwoo settled Choerry with a warning glare before their vision was turned towards the metallic door he had been tampering with. She felt sparks of electricity shooting through her which she had grown to familiarize herself with as Gowon’s power.

The power was constantly there, harvesting itself in Gowon’s headspace that was always blocked out from her except for the times where Gowon took over. It was energy so large that it made her feel like a ticking time bomb waiting for it all to just come out eventually. In the snap of a finger, Gowon could have incinerated a field full of trees with minimal effort, and that was the most terrifying thing. There was a power so large that it could instantly kill an entire population hiding inside of her body, and if it came out then it would be on her.

A flash of bright, blinding light clouded their vision as Gowon concentrated the power towards the metallic door.

Chaewon could feel their hands trembling in mid air as the energy shot out through her skin. Gowon was putting as much effort as she could into destroying the material, but she could tell by the prickling in her mind that the deity was beginning to grow frustrated. Meaning that there was no progress being made.

“Shut it, human.” Gowon growled, letting the light dim down and lower her hands. “It’s your fault that this body is so weak – if only it were stronger-“

Chaewon knew it had nothing to do with her body – Gowon had already demonstrated the full capacity of her powers and it should have certainly been enough to blow the heavy door off its hinges.

“I will obliterate you-“

“I don’t care for your squabbles; how many times have I told you?” Chanwoo growled at Gowon, his sneer so deep-set that his features creased to form crinkles. He was visibly losing his nerves and it was only serving to make Gowon even more uncomfortable, which made the prickling in Chaewon’s mind even harsher than before. “You need to get this door open in the next ten seconds or you will not have served the task that I gave to you.”

Gowon silently looked back at him. Chaewon could hear the frustration and annoyance coming from the deity but knew that she could fake obedience better than anyone.

“Do you want to know how to get to Yves or not?” Chanwoo pressed further, briefly raising the gun at them.

As if by magic, at the mention of the other deity Gowon’s controversial thoughts began to stifle themselves and soothe into a cooler determination.

Chaewon barely knew who ‘Yves’ was thanks to Gowon’s barrier that she put between their headspaces, but from the glimpses that she had caught during the time Gowon had been in control of her body she was able to scratch the surface behind that name. There was something about Yves that made her special as a deity in comparison to Gowon, who Chaewon had originally thought to be extremely powerful. Judging from the terrifying aura that had swarmed her in what she thought was Gowon’s memories, it was as if Yves had a power that was Gowon’s multiplied by a thousand.

But that didn’t explain Gowon’s desperation to find Yves. (Desperation to the point that she let Chanwoo boss her around.) During the battle that Gowon had fought in the sanguisuges’ household there had been another girl who was serving as a host for another deity. When they had seen her, there was something in the way that Gowon reacted that made Chaewon realise that there was something special about her too.

Except it wasn’t that she was as powerful as Yves – in fact she seemed to be less powerful than Gowon herself. There was an unexplainable pull that Chaewon felt towards that girl that made her question whether the thoughts in her mind were hers or Gowon’s.

The deity that was in that girl’s body was special to Gowon.

Chaewon concentrated on that memory.

There was something in the energy that pulled her towards it. A faint sense of heartache that was painfully pleasant as well as an all-encompassing warmth engulfed her consciousness.

Chasing that feeling, Chaewon let herself fall deeper into the emotions and memories being projected onto her.

A chill ran around her.

“You’re not Gowon.”

Startling, Chaewon looked around her. She had fallen so far into Gowon’s headspace that she must have physically manifested herself into it.

A field of tall grass to the height of her waist surrounded her, warm sunlight spreading over the quiet landscape and skimming her skin pleasantly. Soft, dry mud beneath her feet sunk gently under the pressure of her weight. Vibrantly green blades of grass swayed ever so slightly in a cool summer breeze, the azure skies an endless expanse above her. In the distance – rising above the sea of healthy grass – was an old Chinese Elm with darker evergreen leaves.

“You’re the host.”

Chaewon turned around towards the voice.

She was greeted with the sight of the same girl that had been at the sanguisuges’ household. Ebony black hair cascading in gentle waves over bare shoulders, parting evenly at the middle and falling in a beautifully careless manner. Her rosy plump lips were slightly parted, though she assumed that that was something natural that she did.

With sharp, intelligent eyes, the girl studied her.

“Gowon’s headspace is open,” she said lightly in a voice so soothing that it made Chaewon take a step towards her. “That’s why we can be here. But why?”

Hesitantly, Chaewon tested opening her mouth. “I-I’m not sure…”

The girl took her words with a grain of salt, though she seemed to accept them readily. Instead, she turned away from her with her hands tucked dutifully behind her back. “Is everything alright?” With a pause in her step, the grass dancing happily around her, the girl stared off into the horizon. “Is she alright?”

Chaewon looked curiously at her. There was something in the way that she asked the question. Almost as if she cared for Gowon.

“For now…” She answered unsurely after some time. There was something strange about talking to someone in a deity’s mind as if she had known them for a long time. “But I’m not sure that everything will be, soon.”

Black hair sweeping the air like a curtain, the girl turned to look at her inquisitively. “What do you mean?”

Chaewon blinked. She couldn’t deny that she was slightly stunned by the visuals so suddenly in her face – it was as if she were watching a popular hair CF on TV. Still, there was something in the way that the girl carried herself that was different from when they had encountered her in the sanguisuges’ household.

“We’re at a human government facility,” Chaewon moved to stand beside the girl, her hands touching the fabric of her own dress. “Gowon is helping our boss do something… probably something really, really bad.”

Silence was her reply. A pensive look took over the girl’s face, her lips closing into a thoughtful expression.

“Is she in danger… probably.” If she thought about it, Gowon had been adamant on keeping their identity a secret. Letting the government know of their existence would most likely be the last thing that she wanted. “There’s other people here who… who have suffered because of what w-we’re doing. I… If I don’t do anything…”

The girl nodded understandingly at her, a grim expression on her face as if she completely comprehended the situation just from that brief overview.

Just as Chaewon was about to further explain, she felt herself being forcibly pulled back out from the peaceful landscape. A cold chill struck, and her vision flashed white as she adapted to the scene in front of her.

Electricity shot through her arms as Gowon charged her power, ready to aim and fire on command if necessary. Her levels of stress were heightened, and she felt more rattled than Chaewon had ever felt her. Her point of focus was the group of humans that Chanwoo was aiming his gun at dangerously in the entrance of the door towards the side of the room, the intention to kill bright in his eyes. At the front of the group was a woman dressed in a lab coat, just as the rest of the people that they had encountered previously had worn. Behind her were numerous people dressed heavily in what appeared to be armor.

“No!” An anguished scream interrupted the stalemate. “Please, please don’t shoot.”

Heejin threw herself in front of the gun barrel, her arms spread out wide as if to shield Chanwoo’s target. The immediate reaction in Chaewon’s mind was to rush over and move Heejin out of harm’s way, but Gowon held her back as if she were stopping a small child. Tears were prickling her already swollen eyes, blood trickling down her face from where Chanwoo had opened the wounds with his slap.

“I’ll do anything, please don’t shoot.” Heejin’s voice was thick with emotion, wavering drastically.

As if taking interest, Chanwoo looked down the length of the gun and at Heejin, studying her carefully. Chaewon could see the wheels spinning in his head, and Gowon was waiting obediently in anticipation for further instructions.

“Anything?” He asked, his voice betraying curiosity.

Immediately Heejin began nodding. “Anything – I’ll do anything, I swear.” The desperation in her voice was painful to hear. “Just… please don’t shoot.”

Chanwoo smirked to himself, obviously noting the success that the surprise had on his plan. Displacing himself sideways, he continued to aim the end of the barrel towards the group of newcomers, though this time with a less savage look in his eyes. In response, several men raised their weapons and unlocked safety.

“Put your weapons down.” Chanwoo ordered, jerking his head towards the bare corner of the room.

The men didn’t relent. Instead, they took several steps into the room uniformly as if aiming to surround them entirely. They did so quietly without engaging with Chanwoo, who grew more and more uncomfortable as the men moved.

In response to the blatant disregard to his order, his arm steadily shot to aim the gun at Heejin’s unsuspecting head.

“Put your weapons down!” Spit flew from his lips. There was no telling in whether he would truly pull the trigger if things went south, but there was an instinct in Chaewon that told her it wasn’t worth taking the risk. “Now! Or the next bullet goes in the girl’s head.”

Almost immediately, the woman who had been leading the group stumbled forward. “No, no…” Her hand landed on the shoulder of the man closest to her, the skin of her knuckles turning white from the force which she gripped at it. There was evident desperation in her features, as well as an intelligence that presented itself when her eyes vigilantly watched Chanwoo’s next move. “Do as he says.”

Reluctantly, the men began lowering their heavy artillery. Chaewon had almost wanted them to open fire on Chanwoo so that everything could finally end, but then she realised the situation that she had put herself in.

With Gowon being in control, it meant that she looked more hostile than hostage-like. If they thought that Chanwoo was the enemy (a likely chance) then they most likely thought that Chaewon was one too. Then meaning that Choerry – who had been standing diligently beside Gowon – would also be viewed as the enemy. And then they’d all be dead no matter what.

An almost pleased expression graced Chanwoo’s face, as if he derived pleasure from power. But it was short-lived as one of the men raised his rifle and pulled at the trigger.

Gowon was the first to move.

The next thing Chaewon knew, they were standing over the lifeless body of the man who had been stupid enough to defy Chanwoo. There was precise hole in the center of his head where Gowon had released all the power into. A quick and merciless death.

Naturally, the rest of the men changed their stances to defensively, some aiming their weapons at them and some at Chanwoo, who had seized Heejin forcefully for leverage. Fortunately, the bullet hadn’t scathed any of them.

“Put. Your weapons. Down.” Chanwoo pressed, digging the edge of the gun into Heejin’s temple in what looked like a painful manner. Chaewon could see his hand shaking.

After moments of hesitation, Gowon dispelled her power into the marble floor in front of the man who appeared to be leading the group. Pieces projected themselves across the ground, scattering onto Chaewon’s trainers. A sizzling smoke was left behind, created by the thermal energy that was probably created by the blast.

“You won’t win.” Chanwoo’s voice was more factual than mocking, though it did manage to get across its purpose – to sound condescending and superior. “She can kill all of you before you can pull those triggers.” His predatory gaze turned to the woman in the lab coat, who appeared to be the most shaken out of them all. Her face had gone completely pale, though Chaewon hadn’t thought it to be possible with her extremely fair complexion. “Your daughter will be dead before you can blink.”

Heejin jerked in his grip. Chanwoo wrestled her back into submission, a deep scowl on his face.

Chaewon finally connected the pieces. The woman was Heejin’s mother. She didn’t know how she hadn’t noticed the resemblance before, but now that she payed close attention she realised that they both shared similar features. Heejin’s devotion to protecting her could only be explained if she cared deeply for her. And considering what had happened to her father just mere moments before…

Pity took over Chaewon.

As the men began tossing their weapons to the side of the room, something caught Gowon’s eye.

Chaewon curiously observed through Gowon’s vision, trying to see what had made her stop glaring at the men so menacingly. It wasn’t too often that Gowon showed anything but disinterest and annoyance with human affairs.

The flash of blonde was almost too telling to ignore. In fact, despite having only seen the woman once in her lifetime she was able to recognize her immediately. It may have been for the fact that she had been the one to capture her when Gowon had been in control (an incredible feat when considering how the latter was a deity), or for the fact that Choerry had praised this woman endlessly in most of their conversations. But the main factor that led both her and Gowon to pin a name to a face in a split second was the reason why anything was happening in the first place.

“Jinsol?”

Chanwoo’s face had dropped. In the first time that Chaewon had met him, she had never seen him let down his guard so freely.

It had always been blank expressions, or false saccharine smiles that made the bumps on her skin rise. If there was ever a man so guarded from every aspect in the world, it had to be Chanwoo. Chaewon knew the bare minimum of his motivation – she just knew that someone had sent him to earth to finish a task that hadn’t been completed. She barely even knew if he was left or right handed.

Now, his eyes were so unguarded that Chaewon could have read his entire life story from them.

His slack jaw was enough to represent his surprise – never mind the obvious pain and longing in his eyes. (They had never looked so humane.) His grip on Heejin weakened, and that was enough for the girl to slip out of his grasp easily and move towards where her mother stood.

“Jinsol, my god-“ Chanwoo moved towards her.

If Chanwoo had looked surprised, then Jinsoul looked like she had just seen a ghost.

All the blood had completely drained from her face, and Chaewon momentarily wondered if that was just how sanguisuges naturally looked or if this was because of the terror in her eyes. Not even when Gowon had crushed her shoulder with the heel of their school shoes had she looked so scared for her life. Maybe Jinsoul wasn’t as happy to see her old lover as he was to see her.

“What have they done to you?” Chanwoo’s steps dragged across the floor as if all energy had been depleted from his body. His arms lowered to his side, leaving him completely defenseless to any attacks.

The remaining men who had deposited their weapons observed him carefully. As soon as Chanwoo got within arm’s reach, they tried to restrain him.

Chaewon would have rooted for them.

Except she knew well enough that Chanwoo was almost a master in martial arts, with scary precision and crazy reflexes. So the first man who attempted to touch him ended up on the ground within seconds, arm restrained in a painful position, and the second with a bullet in his head.

The next two who tried to attack him did so with more wariness, though one was evidently affected by the death of his teammate. Chanwoo effectively snapped the arm of the first man and continued to parry the swings of the two attackers. Swiftly, he absorbed the punches and kicks with his body. His finger pulled the trigger when the end of the gun pressed against the bottom of their jaws, guaranteeing an exact kill. They were down just as fast as the first two, in a way that looked too rehearsed to be true.

As if he had not just murdered three people, Chanwoo straightened himself out. His hands busily tugged at the end of his jacket. Distractedly, he fixed the collar of his shirt, which had been splattered with the offending red.

When he looked back at Jinsoul, he was met with absolute horror.

“No… don’t do that.” His voice was remorseful, and Chaewon heard the rawness in it. His steps led him in front of the blonde, who was rooted to her spot. “I… I had to.” Searchingly, he tilted his head to take a better look at Jinsoul’s bruised face. His hand shook as it rose to cup the side of her face, trembling with what seemed to be uncertainty as well as excitement. “They would have… I couldn’t let them.”

Jinsoul whipped her face away from his hand as if she had been scalded. Immediately afterwards, regret flooded her entire face.

(Though Chaewon wasn’t sure if it was because she hadn’t meant to, or because Chanwoo’s entire expression darkened entirely.)

“I-I…” Where Jinsoul had sounded so sure and secure of herself just days ago, now she sounded almost as if she were weak. As if all her power had been stripped from her and she’d been left bare in front of her old lover. “How? How are you… here?”

Chaewon watched the sanguisuge fumble with the intricate handcuffs completely enveloping her hands. Chanwoo was hesitantly reaching out to touch her once more, though this time he did so with more care – as if he were approaching a scared animal. He seemed entranced by the sight in front of him, almost missing the question completely if it weren’t for the inquiry in Jinsoul’s eyes.

An emotionless laugh was coughed out of him. Shockingly, his eyes were lined with tears.

“I came here for you.” The love in his voice was sickeningly sweet – though not in the romantic sense that Chaewon usually poured herself over – it was almost disturbing to hear it coming from a cold-blooded murderer. The concept of Chanwoo being able to be in a stable relationship had not really stuck in her mind. She hadn’t realised how difficult it would be to process until now.

Jinsoul blinked back at him. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously. There were still injuries from when she had fought against Gowon on her skin, though the blood peppering the back of her shirt was certainly new.

Distractedly, the blonde’s eyes wandered around the room. Her eyes met Choerry’s, who looked like she wanted to both run away that second or rush towards her creator.

“Y-Yerim?” Jinsoul’s voice cracked. Most likely from the unexpectedness of the situation. “What are you- how-“ The panicked eyes darted further around the room, landing on Heejin who was leaning protectively against her mother’s front, coated in blood. “Heejin, you…?”

Choerry staggered forward, guilt dripping from her face. “Unnie…”

“Are you with him… you’re with-“ Jinsoul registered Gowon, who was standing completely still with her arm outstretched in a warning. “What is this?”

Chanwoo, who had been watching his lover process everything, bitterly sighed. “I will explain everything to you later.” Gently, he pushed back loose strands of hair behind Jinsoul’s ear, looking down at her with an imploring expression. “We just need to complete this mission first, and then we can talk about everything.”

Wildly, Jinsoul’s eyes darted between everyone in the room. “What ‘mission’?”

Smiling grievingly, Chanwoo slid away from Jinsoul. “One that means we can be together forever, now.” He casually walked over to the heavy metallic door still bolted shut, his hand wiping the blood splatters from the surface of his gun. “As a family- just like what we always wanted.”

At the mention of family, Jinsoul’s entire demeanor changed.

It was almost like someone told her that her loved ones had just been killed in a terrible accident.

“I’ve missed her desperately, love.” Nostalgia and melancholy tinged his voice, though this was probably the happiest Chaewon had ever seen him. “So much time just… wasted. I must have missed so many moments.”

A lone tear tinted a crimson color slid down the profile of Jinsoul’s face.

“But at least she had you.” Chanwoo grinned back at her, as if she weren’t terrified of even the idea of him. “How is she? Is she as beautiful as her mother?”

Chaewon’s thought track stopped.

Everything in the room went quiet.

Save for the distant growls and grumbles monstrously emanating from behind the heavy metallic doors.

“She must be perfect, if she’s anything like you.” Chanwoo continued, evidently off in his own world.

Jinsoul’s red tears slid down her chin, dripping almost in slow-motion towards the white marble surface.

“When this is all over, you can introduce me to her.”

Jinsoul’s dry lips parted.

“Our daughter.”


	27. twenty-seven

"Why are you here?”

Rolling her eyes, Hyunjin powered through the sharp pain tugging at her shoulder, piercing its way up through her spine and digging into the base of her skull. Carefully, she tugged the bottom of the sleeve of her borrowed shirt up. The bandages attempting to keep the blood from spilling out of the gunshot wound were beginning to soak through. Though when she compared it to the state it had been in half-an-hour before, she could confidently state that it was beginning to heal.

Hyunjin let the sleeve fall back over and tugged the white lab coat on for good measure.

On her power walk through the elaborate maze of hallways, she caught sight of a spare lab coat draped over the back of an armchair. Despite the entire building being almost entirely barren (which she suspected it was because all the people had been at the ambush), having a disguise would help.

“You should have stayed in the car.”

“Maybe.” Hyunjin grumbled, doing her best to avoid Hyejoo’s menacing glares beside her.

After receiving information from Chaewon through Hyejoo, they were quick to formulate a plan that would get as many people out of the building safely. They realized quickly that if they were going to go up against any important government figures, they couldn’t risk letting Vivi or Jungeun be recognised.

Their past ties with the government through the syndicate restricted them.

(Doyoung wasn’t even an option in the first place, what with the distrust and slight contempt that Hyunjin held for him. On top of that, he appeared to have pulled a muscle back at the temple and couldn’t move to his full ability.)

This had left only Hyunjin, Hyejoo, Haseul and Yeojin as viable options.

Yeojin had easily been pushed out of the running what with Haseul’s stern ‘no, I’m not sending you on a suicide mission’ intimidating even Doyoung.

After that, Hyunjin’s valiant volunteering had been snuffed once again by Haseul. She had been called rash and brutish for even attempting to launch herself into a possibly aggressive situation with a bullet lodged in her left shoulder.

Even though Haseul had insisted that she went, there had been great reluctance on Vivi’s part (despite how much the sanguisuge tried holding back her bias). Haseul would have been a good fit with the scientist role. She would have looked even better in the white lab coat than Hyunjin did with her round-rimmed glasses. But even Jungeun agreed that they couldn’t send their only medic (no matter how improvised) into a battle with no fighting experience, weapons or knowledge of what could be waiting.

Which had left only Hyejoo, who had been surprisingly eager to help despite her largely apathetic attitude.

Hyunjin eyed the girl out of the corner of her eye.

Just as she had done, she had found whatever uniform lying around and shrugged it on without a care in the world (the back of the collar of her lab coat was sticking up), replacing the black attire with an oversized bright blue shirt that she tucked into her black jeans. Hyunjin was sure that when they had been in the van the square-rimmed glasses hadn’t been perched atop her head, pushing her hair out of her face. Without the elusive facemask to shield her features from the world, Hyunjin could see the faint blotches of bruising showing up on her skin on her nose from where she had fallen on her face back at the temple.

Hopefully no one would notice.

Abruptly, dark eyes snapped to meet hers in a menacing manner.

“Am I going to have to carry you?” Hyejoo growled, looking severely displeased. Even though it was phrased as a question, she pronounced it more as a statement than anything else.

Confused, Hyunjin frowned deeply at her. “No. It was my arm that got shot, not my leg.”

Heaving a sigh so deep that Hyunjin thought she would blow all the air out of her lungs, Hyejoo rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “That’s not what I-“ She gave up, deeming the line of conversation futile and instead taking to shoving her hands in the pockets of the coat. “Whatever. Just don’t slow me down.”

Frustration seeped into Hyunjin’s mind. She’d had a long week, and having a pissy teenager getting mad at her was not helping her in the slightest.

But instead of letting it get to her, she tried running the plan through in her mind once more.

Hyejoo’s task was to create a distraction big enough that all the attention in the building would be towards that. With that, Haseul, Doyoung and Yeojin would be given a chance to access the power and cut it off, giving an advantage to Vivi and Jungeun. According to Hyejoo, Chaewon had said that they were in the center of the building, and the only way to access that area without being seen was through a back door. Hopefully by now, Jungeun and Vivi would have some semblance of the layout and were heading over right that second. With the lights out, Jungeun would take out and distract any government operatives while Vivi tried evacuating as many hostages as possible.

It was a decent plan for being thought out in ten minutes.

Except Hyunjin had no part to play in it, and that irked her to no ends.

Her creator – who she thought to have been dead for two days – was alive in that building. Along with her was her best friend – the person who she was so irrevocably in love with and had thought to be safe all this time. Except she wasn’t and she was apparently being held against her will. Chaewon was there too, calling out for help.

Of course, Hyunjin would get out of the car and try to do something.

“Any more messages from Chaewon?”

Hyejoo barely batted an eyelash at her, though Hyunjin could tell she had been noticed with the way her eyebrow twitched. “Who?” She asked with an indifferent glance.

Clenching her fists, Hyunjin tried to maintain her anger. “The girl who has been talking to you for the past hour?”

Making an exaggerated ‘ah’ expression, Hyejoo took a sharp turn down a hallway as if she knew the layout like the back of her hand. (Hyunjin wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.) “Yeah… I haven’t really been speaking to her.” The aloof tone in the drawl made the hairs on the back of Hyunjin’s neck rise. “Olivia has – and then Olivia has been telling me what she’s been saying.” Hyunjin would have pushed her into a wall had she not known the girl could do much worse to her in this state. “Anyway, Olivia hasn’t really said anything for the past fifteen minutes, so I’d say that ‘nerdy-girl’ is either busy or dead.”

Hyunjin would have been able to keep her cool (really, she could have).

The last word, however, triggered something inside of her.

A white-hot anger washed over her, and she was pinning Hyejoo against the nearest wall with a forearm across her shoulders.

Instead of looking surprised, or hurt, or scared, Hyejoo continued to blink owlishly at her as if she had just said something stupid. There was that over-confident tilt in the corner of her taunting eyebrow.

If Hyejoo was expecting any words, Hyunjin didn’t have any.

The only thing she had prepared was the restraint against her own ferocity against the girl, who most likely was irritating her on purpose. (And she was doing hell of a good job at it.)

“Are you done?” Bored, Hyejoo let her eyes fall away to a spot on the marble floor.

Gritting her teeth, Hyunjin pushed harder against her chest. “I don’t know what your problem is, but whatever it is I suggest you cut it out.” She wanted there to be danger in her voice – authority that would firmly get her point across. Instead, there was fear and distress and weakness. “There are good people in there that need help. We’re in this together.”

A cold, hard glaze covered Hyejoo’s eyes, and for a moment Hyunjin thought that she was showing some other emotion other than anger or boredom. But the words that came out of her mouth were:

“Referencing High School Musical?”

Hyunjin had never wanted to crawl into a hole and die more in her life.

“Now if you’re done with your outdated references-“ Hyejoo pushed against the arm restraining her nonchalantly. “-I have something that I should be doing.”

Noting that Hyunjin hadn’t alleviated any of the pressure against her chest and had done the opposite in turn, Hyejoo’s brow furrowed. There was stubbornness in Hyunjin’s stance, that told her if she let the younger girl go, she would be giving up any kind of dominance she had in this strange dynamic. Equally, there was a resolute defiance in the scowl on Hyejoo’s darkened face.

Hyejoo pushed harder, doing her best to use her hips to throw her entire weight into it. Anticipating it, Hyunjin widened her stance and glared right back into Hyejoo’s increasingly irritated face.

“What the fuck.” Hyejoo spat, now beginning to use her hands to tug at her forearm. “Let me go, dumbass.”

A small, petty smirk formed on Hyunjin’s face, hiding no amusement nor happiness. “Why should I?” There was only irritation fueling her body and thoughts, and it was clouding her judgment terribly. “You’ve been pretty clear in saying we’re not a team.”

Almost pouting, Hyejoo’s movements stilled. The coldness in the back of her eyes was there, and it was pricking at Hyunjin’s skin with a temperature so low it almost burnt her.

Then, a loud, blaring sound took over everything.

Amidst the chaos Hyejoo was able to use the distraction against Hyunjin to weasel her way out of the tight grip. There wasn’t any seam of surprise tailored on her features, almost as if she had been expecting the incriminating sound to go off at that exact moment.

Hyunjin thought she saw her rubbing at her chest, a frown on her face, before her eyes caught sight of what had instigated the entire thing.

The glass of the fire alarm had been broken, shards discarded on the floor just below it.

“What did you do?” Hyunjin hissed, turning to Hyejoo with wide panicked eyes. She could hear the alarm and the distant wail of a siren emanating around the entire building, meaning that any attackers or any possible enemies knew of their arrival. “They’re going to know where we are.”

Hyejoo dusted the side of her fist against her thigh, taking off small flecks of glass that had dented itself into her skin. “Let them.” She proceeded to shove her hands deep into her pockets, leaning on the back of her heels and peering down the hallway as if expecting someone to come charging down it. “They’ll take us straight to where the action is.”

“I thought you knew where you were going.” Livid, Hyunjin paced up and down the white hallway, unsure of which direction to take. “Shouldn’t you know where the action is?”

Scoffing, the girl nudged the glass from her head, so they’d fall gently onto the bridge of her nose. (The action made her scrunch her nose due to the forming bruise still being sensitive.) “Hell no, I’ve never been here in my life.”

“So what were you planning to do all of this time?”

Visibly irritated, Hyejoo grabbed Hyunjin by the collar. “Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid – I gave the others some time to get closer to where they needed to get to while I found something to ‘create a distraction’.” Her warm breath struck Hyunjin in the face, harsh and imposing. “Unless you’ve memorized the plan of this fucking building, I suggest we let someone who actually knows the layout lead us right to where we need to get to rather than walking around hoping for something to appear out of thin air.”

Hyunjin leveled Hyejoo’s glare evenly, though she could see where her point lay.

Even though they could have just put themselves in danger, that was the whole purpose of their task in the first place. And even though she was stubborn, she had to admit that it was a pretty intelligent plan to use the fire alarm to stray attention.

“Come on.” Hyejoo stalked away from her, mussing her hair with her hand. “We don’t want to get caught near the crime scene.”

Albeit reluctantly, Hyunjin followed quietly after her, straining her hearing for any nearby people.

They had danced their way around the unfamiliar sight when Hyunjin over the sirens heard the tell-tale signs of thunderous footsteps storming down behind them. Her initial instinct was to reach out and grab Hyejoo’s elbow, but when she remembered the way she reacted to her at the temple, she thought better.

“They’re coming.” She mumbled instead, moving closer so that they looked somewhat familiar with one another.

Sure enough, Hyejoo heard the approach and began slowing down her pace. She wiped a hand over her face, dragging it down in a way that made her eyes water from the pull. When she gave Hyunjin a sort of warning expression, it looked as if she had been crying.

Getting the hint, Hyunjin attempted in doing the same by rubbing at her eyes with the back of her right fist.

“Stop where you are!”

Ignoring the goosebumps that rose on her skin, Hyunjin did as asked and tried catching Hyejoo’s eye. She had no idea what their plan was, but she knew that she had to come up with something quickly.

“Identify yourselves.” The grave voice called out, accusatory.

Panic crippled Hyunjin’s chest, all words drying in her mouth before she had the chance to even push them out. She had never been the best at lying, having always been told that the truth was the best way to go. In fact, Heejin’s ability in acting had been one of the things that fascinated her the most about her best friend, and she wasn’t going to tell herself that she hadn’t thought about practicing in her spare time. But it was a little too late to practice now that she was in a situation like this one.

Prepared to use her speed to outrun any bullets, she gritted her teeth and tried ignoring the pulsing of her blood through her shoulder.

“We-We’re new interns!”

Wide-eyed, Hyunjin swiveled her head to stare at Hyejoo.

“I-We don’t know what’s happening, I…” Her voice was wet with brimming tears, threatening to fall at that moment. Lower lip quivering almost as much as the hands she held up beside her head, Hyejoo took a step closer to them. “The alarm – please, we need help…”

Hyunjin hadn’t seen Hyejoo use as much emotion as she was seeing now. If she hadn’t known any better, she could have easily believed the façade she was pulling and whole-heartedly trusted her. Except that she had been with her when she had carelessly killed almost a whole squad of heavily armed men.

Trying to hide her amazement, Hyunjin made a facial expression she hoped looked vulnerable enough for the men.

“No one was supposed to be staying in today.” The man leading the small group of operatives said suspiciously, though he had lowered his gun slightly to aim at their feet. “All interns were sent emails to stay at home.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Hyunjin saw Hyejoo’s face wiped from any traces of emotion.

“We-“ Choking slightly on her voice, Hyunjin took a harrowing breath to steady her anxiety. “We’re interns under Doctor Jeon-“ She prayed that that’s what Heejin’s parents were known as in the facility, otherwise both of them were severely screwed. “-we were running an errand for them when…”

“Doctor Jeon…” The man spoke with recognition in his voice. Hyunjin refrained from patting herself on the back from that quick lie. “We’ll have to check with her to see if you are telling the truth.” At his words, the rest of the men continued walking toward them, their weapons still clutched tightly in their bulky arms as if they didn’t fully trust their story. “But just know that if you are lying,” darkness fell into the silence, speaking more meaning than the words being said, “there will be serious consequences.”

“Of course-“

The back of Hyunjin’s collar was grabbed by one of the men, pushing her along. She tried focussing on the fact that they hadn’t been shot at point blank instead of her frustration she held towards the men.

Beside her, Hyejoo walked with her head down. She could see the irritated expression the girl was pulling, though she hid it successfully behind a curtain of dark hair to keep up their act. Truthfully, Hyunjin had expected her to use more of her black magic so that they didn’t have to put up with the disrespectful behavior. It was surprising to see her act so docile.

The constant blaring of the alarm surrounded them as they walked in whichever direction it was that the operatives were leading them. It had been screaming for almost two minutes now, and it had gotten to the point that Hyunjin’s mind just blocked it out as if it were white noise. Instead, she thought about what they were going to do when they were faced with the situation ahead of them.

She had no idea what to expect – they hadn’t gotten much information at all.

There was something to do with the mutations that had been running rampage at the temple, but just thinking about that simple idea terrified the soul out of her.

All she knew was that if worse came to worse, she wouldn’t hesitate to do everything in her power to save the people that she loved.

Lost in her own thoughts, she almost walked right into the leading man’s back. He had abruptly stopped with no warning, and he held a hand out beside his head as if to tell the rest of his men to do the same. She wasn’t sure what he was trying to do (certainly not listen, because humans shouldn’t have been able to hear anything but the alarm) but she did her best to not disturb it.

In the hallways ahead of them, a pure synthetic light fell through a large glass wall, contrasting against the red tint that had been flooding the rest of the building. Judging by the tense expression on the man’s face, they seemed to have arrived to their final destination.

A cry interrupted her thought process.

Hyunjin spun on her heel to look towards where it had come from, the other operatives around her doing the same.

The man who had been pressing his rifle into Hyejoo’s back fell to the floor limply. A familiar black mist emanated from his chest and swarmed at Hyejoo’s back, waiting almost patiently.

“What the-“

With a squint, Hyejoo commanded the dark energy to pierce through the operative beside her.

Hyunjin’s heart spiked in her chest, realizing what the girl was doing.

A click next to her ear pulled her from her stupor and she ducked as quick as she could. The sound of a bullet being pushed out from a rifle resounded over the wailing alarm.

Had she not heard that click, her brains would have most likely been painting the white wall.

As efficiently and merciful as possible, she swung her fist in an upwards arch. Her intention was not to kill, but to hopefully hit the man with the correct amount of force that it would knock him out. Sure enough, as soon as her fist contacted the bottom of his chin, he was sent reeling back into another of his team members.

Realizing that this had turned out into a full-blown fight, Hyunjin’s instincts kicked in and her vision was tinted that animalistic yellow that allowed her to see things clearer.

Hyejoo was donning a small grimace as she dodged the rifle that was swung at her. She quickly eliminated the potential threat with the black mist that struck through the man’s back, tearing into his body and stealing the life from him immediately.

A sharp movement caught Hyunjin’s attention, and she looked towards where it had come from.

Her eyes met the face of a bullet, hurtling towards her at immeasurable speeds.

Not even having time to widen her eyes, Hyunjin put all her strength into throwing her body weight away from it. Her core burned at the effort, straining as she watched the metallic piece approach her face closer than before.

Very slightly, the cool metal brushed against the skin of her face and proceeded to dart through her hair.

Animal instincts kicked in.

Hyunjin located the origin and scurried straight towards it. Nothing else was in her sight but the heavily armed man quickly pulling the trigger once more, this time his aim off and brushing over the top of her head. She had felt the push of air whip strands of her hair upwards and knew that if she hadn’t lowered her torso into the sprint position she would have died right there.

She swiveled out of the way of the dark blur of energy reflexively, as if her body had memorized the movement prior to this. Next thing she knew, she had slammed the rifle into the man’s covered face and rammed his head back into the wall.

Small pieces of marble crumpled away under the force, falling atop the hopefully unconscious man’s body.

“You blood-sucking bitch-“

Behind her, Hyunjin heard the tell-tale sound of a trigger being pulled.

For the slightest of moments, she expected pain to wash over her. Expected her mind to be washed into darkness and the life to leave her body as she slumped to the ground. It was only natural when she could hear the exact trajectory of bullets pushing through the air.

Except nothing came.

“Thanks for the ride, but-“ Hyejoo’s drawling voice registered in her mind. “-all douchebags get off at this point.”

Hyunjin turned in time to see the man’s body slumping to the ground, a wide hole carved into the center of his chest in a sadistically artistic manner. Her stomach lurched as she saw the other side of the room through it.

Surprised, she turned to look at Hyejoo, who was perspiring from her brow.

The girl’s eyes were immensely dark, reminding Hyunjin of Jungeun’s demonic eyes except they held no traces of color in them. There was something in her expression that gave away the contempt she had been keeping inside of her, as well as traces of something that Hyunjin could only describe as vengeance. Her effort was shown in the way the back of her untucked collar stuck to the back of her wet neck, strands of hair clinging to her profile.

Gratitude filled Hyunjin’s chest.

As if sensing her eyes, Hyejoo quickly shot her a glare. “I just carried you through that.” She grumbled in pure irritation as if Hyunjin were a mere nuisance.

Through her speechlessness, Hyunjin managed to gather some words. “I had it under control.”

Hyejoo’s eyes narrowed at Hyunjin, recognizing that she had just had her own words thrown back at her face. Her mouth hung open as if she were considering spitting one of her heated retorts in response. However, it seemed that she thought better and instead averted her eyes to the hallway ahead of them, where the white light continued to call to them.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Hyejoo brushed their shoulders together, a scowl deep on her features. “I didn’t do it for you.”

Hyunjin stared after her.

Taking a deep breath, she slightly shook her head.

The near-death experience was enough to shake her out of her bones. Adrenaline was running through her like toxin that sent her hands into unstoppable tremors and her mind into a frenzy. It was like having a storm in the center of her mind, the beginning traces of a migraine presenting itself into the corners of her temples.

Too busy wallowing in herself, Hyunjin only noticed the familiar scent as they approached the white light.

It was tantalizing – sweet, with a hint of delicacy that set off her salivary glands.

Amongst all the chaos, Hyunjin had barely noticed the aching pain in her stomach warning her of her hunger. The last time she had had a proper meal was days ago, and despite her practice with dealing with the animalistic side of herself, it was difficult to stop herself from allowing the monster to crawl out of its cage. Especially when the scent was only growing stronger and stronger the closer they walked towards the glass room, as if calling to her.

Her heart fluttered lightly in her chest, triggering a memory in her brain.

“…Heejin…”

Hyejoo looked at her weirdly out of the corner of her eye, though she held whatever commentary she had to herself.

Just as she uttered the name, her eyes were drawn towards the glass wall.

Bruised, beaten and bleeding, Heejin was being held in a possessive armlock by a taller, bulkier man. Her usually vibrant features were dragged down by fatigue that cloaked her entire expression, almost as if she were desensitized to the gun being pressed threateningly into her side. Familiar crimson trickled down her profile, gathering at her chin and staining the collar of her shirt. Her pale skin was colored a disgusting purple, swollen to the point where Hyunjin doubted that she could see out of her eye.

Something began running in Hyunjin’s chest.

Standing nearby, chained up with a pained expression, was Jinsoul.

Her blonde hair was tousled into an untamed mess, and the thin fabric of her shirt allowed the soul mark on her chest to burn faintly through. Blue was brought to life in her irises, though she seemed unable to tear them from the man that was restraining Heejin’s every movement.

A tug pulled her after Hyejoo, and Hyunjin allowed it to lead her steps towards where the girl was determinedly walking.

Before she did anything, the girl composed herself with a heavy intake of breath. Then, Hyejoo pretended to stagger through the door, panting, and successfully gathered the attention of every member in the room. “Doctor Jeon!” She gasped exaggeratedly, her eyes scanning the room.

“What is this?” The hostile man growled, seeming frustrated with the new arrival, and pointed his gun right at them.

Recognition flashed in Hyunjin’s brain.

“S-seongsaeng?” The word spilled from her mouth before she had a chance to stop it, and the familiar, once warm brown eyes darted to meet hers.

Her blood ran cold in her veins, riddling every one of her limb senseless. She had been expecting a swarm of government operatives, all holding their guns and ready to shoot them at first sight. But she hadn’t been expecting a blonde haired Chaewon, eyes blazing that chilling turquoise color and light protruding from her arms. Or a worn looking Yerim reluctantly holding one of the rifles the men had been carrying, standing over three unconscious bodies and a familiar looking woman tending to an injured man.

Much less, her old homeroom teacher.

“Kim Hyunjin.” He said, with warm familiarity but not with any surprise. Almost as if she had just turned up late to class and had been waiting for her to begin his lecture. “What a pleasant surprise.” His grip around Heejin loosened enough for her to begin writhing in his grip, seeming to have regained all the energy she had lost. “Was this the science internship you were talking about a while back?”

Baffled, Hyunjin just blinked back at him.

She had forgotten that she had told him that she was given the chance of working at a science lab – it surprised her that he still remembered that small detail.

“I have to say, I am very proud of you to be working with minds of such high caliber.” Choi nodded earnestly, though the way he tightened the armlock on Heejin said otherwise. “But it surprises me… why would you be working for a cause that goes against your kind?”

Confused, Hyunjin let her eyes dart to where Jinsoul stood.

Her creator’s neon blue eyes were wide with distraught, making it clear that Hyunjin was the last person she had wanted to see walking through that door. (Hyunjin didn’t know whether to be hurt or indifferent to the small gesture.) Dry lips parting slightly, Jinsoul tried mouthing something to her, only for her to snap her mouth shut.

“I don’t…” Hyunjin tried processing everything.

Why was he holding a gun? And why was he aiming it directly at Heejin’s head when she had been one of his favorite students too? He knew that Hyunjin wasn’t a human…

“No matter.” His expression morphed from the one she had grown accustomed to into one of psychoticism. “It seems that we have some dead weight here.” His aim averted with terrifying precision, aiming point blank at Hyejoo’s wary head. There was no hesitation when he pulled the trigger.

Hyunjin almost shouted in response, fearing for Hyejoo’s life, until she saw that the girl was still standing.

Confusion warped Choi’s face as he stared at Hyejoo’s vexed features. Her eyes had been darkened into that pitch black that began to swallow even the whites in the corners, threateningly evil. Hyunjin could see her jaw working as she grounded her teeth.

The sound of liquid splattering onto the hard surface broke the silence, and Hyunjin could smell a terribly stale scent that made her scrunch her nose in disgust.

A pool of black blood had formed at Hyejoo’s feet, staining the gray of her converse with the intruding color. Soon after, a loud metallic sound clattered into the pool. Something coated in the same substance that was streaming from Hyejoo’s shoulder bounced repeatedly before coming to a stop. Where it sat, it glinted under the white light of the large lab.

Despite his confusion, Choi raised his weapon again, ready to shoot. This time aiming for Hyunjin.

A blood-curdling scream left Heejin as she thrashed wildly in his arms, kicking him in the shin as hard as he could.

The gun went off either way, the smell of gunpowder wafting in the bloody air.

Hyunjin was prepared to use her speed to try and move out of its way, the sting of the previous bullet that had grazed her face prominent as her instincts kicked in. Except that when she began to move to dodge it, she saw another blur darting across.

The clang of metal against metal burst through the room and over the distant wailing of the siren.

Heart pounding in her chest, Hyunjin looked to where the sound had come from.

Heaving, Jinsoul’s bloody back stared back at her, blonde hair swept over one shoulder.

Fear made every muscle in her body rigid. She wasn’t too sure what had created that metallic sound, but all she knew was that Jinsoul was the cause of it. And the last thing she wanted was for her to be hurt as a result.

As soon as Hyunjin’s hands grabbed at Jinsoul’s shoulder, the blonde staggered backwards. Panicked, Hyunjin instinctively wrapped her bad arm around her creator’s waist and pulled her closer to her body. Her shoulder cried out in protest, though she noticed that it was much better than it had been when the wound had first been made.

“No!” Choi’s voice called out, sounding unsettlingly hysterical.

Jinsoul’s eyes flickered between brown and blue, as if struggling to pick between the two. “I’m okay,” she strained out, lifting her cuffed hands up. But where the metal that had been encasing them had been, the only thing left behind was cuffs on each of her wrists. “I stopped it with the metal.”

Relief washed over Hyunjin, who let the tears that had brimmed in her eyes fall finally.

Sighing in what Hyunjin assumed to be respite, Jinsoul’s shaky fingers grazed her cheekbone. Her other arm wrapped tightly around her waist to pull her into a hug, pressing their bodies as close together as she could with whatever strength she had left.

Finally being close to her creator again – who was animated, and breathing, and still alive – was like breathing after being held underwater for so long.

Hyunjin knew full well that it was the animalistic side of her craving for the connection to her maternal figure, but there was a good part of her that associated Jinsoul as her family. And despite everything that they had been through and all the complications of their relationship, Hyunjin loved her.

Sobbing, Hyunjin buried her head into the crook of Jinsoul’s neck.

She felt like a child crying to their mother.

“Shh… it’s alright now.” Jinsoul brushed the back of her head, her fingers becoming attached with all the knots and tangles. In a voice so quiet that only she could hear, “You were scared, weren’t you?” Jinsoul whispered, her head leaning against hers. “I’m sorry, Hyunjin.”

The words only made her cry louder, her breaths unsteady as she tried muffling them on whatever surface she could find. Having the source of comfort that she had been waiting for made her resolve crumble, all her emotions tumbling out at once.

Hyunjin had never been more scared in her life.

If she could, she would have stayed there until she had the strength to gather herself back up again. But there were things to be done.

Pulling her head back up, she fixed her expression into a hard, cold, resolute one.

She met Heejin’s eyes across the room, the pain evident in the way the tears were already glistening on her bruised cheeks. Something in her chest moved, and she found her determination steeling.

With a wordless promise, Hyunjin faintly nodded towards her.

“I… Jinsol-ah…” Choi’s voice had never sounded more jarring. If Hyunjin had to associate it to something, it would have to be to the grating sound of nails against a chalkboard. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

As if by instinct, Jinsoul pushed Hyunjin behind her. Her hand was gripping tightly onto her by the wrist, using her body as a shield from Choi who was approaching them hesitantly. Hyunjin wasn’t too sure why he was speaking to her creator as if they were familiar, but she didn’t like the vulnerable expression on his face – open for Hyunjin’s eyes to feast on and analyze. Guilt plagued the frown on his dark face, as if he were remorseful for even thinking of shooting at Hyunjin. His hands shook, gun threatening to slip from his fingers.

Jinsoul nudged Hyunjin backward, both stepping away from him.

Hurt crossed his features, and Hyunjin almost pitied him.

“I won’t hurt her…” Choi crouched slowly, placing the gun down on the marble floor with a clack. He continued his advance, though this time with much more precaution than before. “I won’t ever do anything to hurt her again, I swear.” His voice was truthful, as if he were making a vow. “I didn’t know, Jinsol… if I had known – if you had told me that she-“

Confusion clouded Hyunjin’s mind. She had no idea what he was talking about.

Though judging by the death grip on her wrist, it seemed that Jinsoul had a semblance of where he was going with his words.

“No.” Trembling, Jinsoul painfully stared back at the man. There was more that she wanted to say – Hyunjin could see the way her lips quaked with unspoken words that she held back.

“It’s okay, now, Jinsol.” The assurance in his body language did nothing of the sort for either of them. Hyunjin almost jumped when his eyes met hers, confused as to where she fit in with all of this. “It makes sense, I always thought that she looked like her.” Choi spoke, as if he were reminiscing of some distant memory. “It’s why I took such a liking to her at school – such dutiful student – though aggressively competitive when it came down to it – like you.”

Hyunjin looked to Jinsoul, seeking for an explanation.

“Sometimes, she would remind me of you.” Choi said, his voice holding an affection that made Hyunjin’s skin crawl. “She looks like you when we were younger.”

Why would he know what Jinsoul looked like when she was-

Hyunjin’s mind took her back to late nights in Jinsoul’s bedroom, when her creator would tell her stories about her past.

Stories of unknown lands and ancient artifacts – of past lovers.

Chanwoo. Choi Chanwoo.

“My daughter was right there… all of this time.”

The breath was knocked out of Hyunjin’s lungs.

No… she wasn’t related to Chanwoo. She was born in a hospital on 15th of November, and she was given her name by her biological mother and father. For the first four years of her life, she was raised in the rural areas with her grandparents before they packed up and moved to the city. All her life, she grew up under the strict watch of her parents. She met Heejin when she was still shorter than her. She had been human until a month and a half ago – Jinsoul had been the one who turned her-

Jungeun knew. Jungeun knew exactly why Jinsoul had chosen her out of the crowd of students who had been more vulnerable than she had.

In Jinsoul’s stories, Jungeun had been the one to be the most present. Even until the very end of their friendship and after the beginning of the bad blood between them, Jungeun had always been mentioned.

‘Something unforgivable’, that’s what Jungeun had said she had done.

She had killed Jinsoul’s lover. Had stormed into their home and led Saerim to them and had held Jinsoul back as Saerim used Yves’ power to kill them.

‘Them’. ‘My family’.

Something strange washed over Jinsoul’s features. It was like a mixture of empathy and pity that made the tears well up emotionally in her eyes. But it also held an undisguisable disgust as she looked at the state of her old lover, who had blood flaking his dress shirt and a desperate expression as he stated false claims.

Hyunjin squeezed Jinsoul’s hand, hoping to give her strength to say the words.

Sighing, Jinsoul looked him dead in the eyes. “Chanwoo. Eunju is…” her voice clogged in her throat. “Saerim took her life after taking yours.”

Chanwoo’s face went blank.

“I wasn’t able to…” Jinsoul gulped, trying to stop the tears from falling from her eyes. “Whatever it is that Saerim told you in the middle world, it isn’t true. She was the one who took Eunju’s soul and snuffed it-“

Hyunjin’s heart ached for her creator, hearing the voice crack when she tried saying her daughter’s name.

Now Hyunjin understood all the anger – all the contempt and hatred that Jinsoul held towards Jungeun. The demon hadn’t just had her lover brutally murdered in front of her – she had led the source of Jinsoul’s trauma straight to the person that she loved most in the world. She had had her young child killed in front of her very eyes.

If Hyunjin had been expecting Chanwoo to go crazy, she was very wrong.

Instead, the man’s expression was wiped clean of any traces of emotion and was replaced with a cool determination that set the alarm blaring in Hyunjin’s head. It was almost as if hearing that his daughter being killed had given him more motivation for whatever it was that he was planning.

Picking up the lethal weapon back from where he had laid it on the floor, Chanwoo walked back over to where Heejin was crouching beside her mother.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Jinsol.” He spoke, his voice steady but a terrifying amount of controlled anger behind it. “I know that you and Jungeun were always close friends.” When he tried to get to where Heejin was threateningly glaring up at him, Yerim stepped in the way with a cold gaze. “Admittedly, I was starting to trust her, too.” He batted Yerim away with a terrifying amount of speed and power, barely giving the sanguisuge enough time to react to the strike. “But when she walked into our home – our safety – she led death right to us.”

Hyunjin began pacing over to him, ready to push him away from Heejin. Jinsoul’s warning hand on her wrist stopped her from moving.

Before he could touch Heejin, she reached out and slashed something at him.

Blood sprouted from his forearm, where the blade of a scalpel had torn through his skin, and he hissed back.

Angry, Chanwoo whipped the gun out. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

Hyunjin’s yellow tinted vision let her see herself sprinting towards Heejin, instinct powering her muscles and determination tainting her brain.

“Stop.”

All her movements stopped on command.

It was as if her body were refusing to cooperate with her brain. No matter how many times she mentally screamed at herself to continue moving, her legs refused to listen. There was a pressure in her head that was strangely familiar as much as it was intrusive on her personal space.

Desperately, her eyes looked to where Heejin was.

Her lover was cradling the body of her mother against her chest, tears streaming down her face and anger in her voice as she ranted at Chanwoo, who looked unsatisfied as he slammed the butt of his gun against the palm of his hand.

Discarding the likely empty gun across the room, Chanwoo strode closer to Heejin.

“I will finish what I have been sent to do.” His voice was resolute, and he seized Heejin by the arm and heaved her up from the floor. “Every last one of them will be punished for their sins, and then afterwards-“ His hellish, beady eyes met Jinsoul’s. “I will pull that demonic bitch limb from limb.”

A shiver slid down Hyunjin’s spine.

Turquoise eyes dug into the side of her face, but all she could see was Heejin’s pained face.

Then, the power went out.


	28. twenty-eight

Heejin had associated chaos with reading notes for the test happening in five minutes in a desperate attempt to regurgitate information. She had associated it with childish fights breaking out between classmates in school hallways. Chaos was the state her headspace fell into whenever Hyunjin was the first to reach out and make any sort of skinship with her.

This, however, was merely a glimpse into what chaos truly was.

She could barely feel anything but the horrifying numbness of having lost two of her parental figures in the span of an hour along with the indescribable anger pumping through every inch in her body. Her eyes had not accustomed to the sudden darkness that had enveloped the room, but she reverently hoped that she could see the anguish on Choi’s face when Heejin got her revenge on him.

A sequence of sounds burst through the strange silence that had warped the sounds of sirens that she had grown used to. Strangely, she thought she heard a distant laugh of insanity that sent cold skittering across her skin, followed by several low growling sounds.

“Heejin…”

Snapping her head down, Heejin desperately tried searching for her mother’s face only to find that darkness continued to drown her sight. “Mom…” Frustrated at not being able to see the comfort she was so deprived of, Heejin clenched her fists tightly into her mother’s robes. “Mom, you got shot, Mom…”

When cold fingers covered in an unknown moisture grazed her cheek, Heejin violently flinched in place. “Heejin, leave and get as far away as you can.”

Indignant, Heejin glared into the darkness where she thought her mother’s face would be. “No. No way. I’m not leaving you behind Mom, not after-” She continued to feel fingers dancing weakly across her face, leaving a trail of moisture behind in their wake. As if a mantra, Heejin continued to speak over her mother’s ridiculous orders telling her to leave her behind. To leave when this all happened because of her – because she had lied to Hyunjin when she could have been honest. No, this was her fault and she would have to fix it. “Mom, listen to me-“ catching the trembling hand, Heejin leant her forehead against what she assumed was the top of her mother’s head. “-I’m going to make this right. I’m going to fix this, and you get to Hyunjin and tell her to take you to the hospital, okay Mom?”

“Heejin, no-“

“Mom, stay here, okay?” Heejin began trying to push herself up from the numbingly cold tiles, feeling slight resistance from where her mother was draping at her clothes. “I’ll be… I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. I promise.”

The sob that followed her words tore through her heart. Her mouth trembled with repressed emotions, though she quickly tugged her lips between her teeth to tame them as best as she could.

Around her, a cacophony of incoherent shouts and animalistic growls distorted her sense of hearing. Had she been a little more conscious of what was going on, she would have felt the anxiety rippling through her body in reaction to the terrifying meanings those could be hiding. But the only thing running through her mind in those instants was the determination to right her wrongs.

Blindly searching for something that would aid her sight, Heejin out-stretched her arms. There had to be an emergency lighting system somewhere in here.

A sequence of rifle shots followed by anguished howling and the sharp sound of glass shattering sent her crouching slightly, her arms raising protectively over her head in instinct. She wasn’t too sure how the ringing in her ears disorientated her when she couldn’t even see where she was going, but she found herself dizzily having to breathe in deeply. Heart pounding rampantly in her chest, Heejin egged her legs on to keep moving. Wherever those rifle shots had come from they hadn’t been aiming at her.

Feeling the palm of her hand touch the coolness of glass, Heejin felt herself become slightly more grounded in spite of everything around her.

Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something flash brightly, though her hopes were quickly quelled when the black surrounded her eyes once more. Perhaps it had just been something her deranged mind had added to the situation so that she wouldn’t completely collapse in on herself.

After what felt like the longest steps of her life, Heejin finally felt herself reach the corner of the room. She would have walked directly into the wall, had her other hand not swept across and managed to strike it. There had to be some sort of plugs or sockets there that could access some kind of lighting in the room. It would allow her to see the exit, where she would carry her mother out of harms way and then be able to locate Choi and strike a deal with him.

After all, every psycho was always down for a good bargain.

(At least that’s what she told herself.)

Slowly, she began lowering herself. She slid her hands down the surface of the glass walls, begging desperately for some sort of contact.

Fingertips stuttering against the friction, Heejin’s heart leapt in her throat. There had to be something…

Bouncing back up, she repeated the motion.

Once her hands touched the surface of the floor again, she bounced back up and repeated the motion, this time with more fever than before.

Sight was the only thing inhibiting her in that moment, if she didn’t find a source of light then she was just a burden – a deadweight that others had to carry around and made things more difficult for them.

There had to be something…

Anxiety made her fingers tremble.

Her breathing narrowed, breaths barely taking in any oxygen.

Come on…

“Got you.”

Heejin felt herself being torn away from the corner, landing painfully on her back and having the last of her breath knocked out of her lungs. Where she hadn’t initially noticed before, she felt the heavy pressure of a weight holding her down by the shoulder and the looming presence beside her. Surprised that she had not died from impact of falling against the hard marble floor nor from the heart attack that assaulted her when she was thrown back, Heejin tried consciously regaining her breath.

Feeling herself being heaved from her position on the ground by the fabric of her shirt, Heejin swung her arms around her wildly to gain a sense of what was happening.

“Don’t think you could get away.” Breath hissed at her ear, the moisture of the heat sticking the shell. Choi’s abhorrent voice clouded her thoughts, stimulating her fight instinct and sending her limbs swinging randomly. “Play nice or I snap your mother’s neck, Miss Jeon.”

At the threat, Heejin stiffened.

“Now is your time to serve your purpose.” He spat out, shoving her hastily in a vague direction.

Shockingly, the movement completely took her away from where she had found security in the corner of the room, now in the open and unaware of where she was headed. The lack of safety made everything come crashing down around her, every sound registering in far too clearly and the indistinguishable scent of metal stinging at her nostrils.

She heard what she thought was Jinsoul’s voice attempting to talk to someone, repeating the same sentences over and over again. A guttural growl followed by the loud sounds of footsteps shook the skin off her bones. Seemingly calm conversation flowing from what she recognised as Chaewon’s – no, Gowon’s – haughty voice and the new girl’s apathetic one with the occasional grunt of strain. Yerim’s desperate voice-

“Hyunjin! Stop!”

Heejin snapped her head in the direction where she thought Yerim’s voice had come from, only to be once again met with the face of darkness.

She took that moment to curse her humanity out for not giving her the same supernatural abilities that vampires possessed that allowed them to see in the dark. It left her at a steep disadvantage.

Before she could even try and rip herself out of Choi’s increasingly tightening grip, she felt herself shoved against an uneven surface that didn’t feel like glass or like a smooth wall. She barely even had time to try and figure out what exactly was being pressed up against her body when Choi was pulling her back again, this time a bright blue light grinning brightly at her in the dark.

Squinting her eyes sharply, Heejin tried getting used to the sudden sensory overload.

“The passcode.” Choi shook her slightly, his voice becoming more crazed by the second. “Type in the passcode.”

The bright blue light lit up what looked like the metal of the large safe in the wall that had been at the back of the room, the cute small buttons displaying numbers from 0 to 9.

Heejin was slammed against the safe, hardly turning her head in time so it was her cheek that took the damage instead of her nose. She felt the remnants of the strike painfully pulsing under her skin afterwards.

“Come on.” The grip on her shoulder tightened impossibly, the sound of fabric tearing under the force lifting the hairs on the back of Heejin’s neck. “This is the only reason why you’re still alive, Miss Jeon.” Heejin hated the way he talked to her like they were still in a classroom setting and he were calling on her for an answer. “Type in the passcode or I’ll make you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Heejin mumbled through the desensitised feeling in the left side of her face. She vaguely felt something trickling from the bruise that had swollen her cheekbone previously.

Angered by her passive reaction, Choi let out a loud, frustrated groan and shoved her once more against the safe, sending Heejin’s head spinning momentarily from the impact. “Don’t play games with me.” His mouth was far too close to her ear for comfort, the dryness of his lips tickling unpleasantly at the shell of her ear each time they moved. “I know one of your parents disclosed such information to you – you’re the heir of their fortune.” Bile rose up her throat when he nudged her head with his damp forehead. “Now, I suggest you start thinking real hard about it before you can no longer think at all.”

Heejin shuddered a breath, trying to think through the panic clustering her thoughts together.

She just wanted it all to end. She didn’t even know what she wanted concretely anymore, everything had just blurred together too much to even distinguish between want and hate.

She closed her eyes drowsily, begging for it all to stop in her head.

“I’m waiting.” Choi dug his nails into her skin, eliciting a cry of pain.

“Wa-wait!” Heejin snapped, voice trembling under the pressure of a psycho at her back. “Let me think.”

“I don’t have all day, Miss Jeon.”

Had it been in any other context, perhaps she would have rolled her eyes in mockery at the slight jab, however she knew that then wasn’t the perfect time to antagonise someone who very much wanted to kill everyone and anyone.

The reason he had kept her alive was so that she could input this so-called passcode that she had absolutely no knowledge of nor had previously known of. In fact, she had never even been aware that her parents owned a safe that wasn’t the small one behind their family photo in her father’s study. Heejin had seen her mother access that safe a number of times whenever the strange men in black suits had made their presence known in their home.

Maybe it was…

The blue light mockingly shone red.

“Fuck-“

“Hurry.” Slam. “Up.” Slam.

Blinking away the dizziness, Heejin tried focusing on the dancing numbers in front of her.

It hadn’t been her parents’ anniversary, which she had found out her mother used for some of her passwords to access her e-mail account. (She had found it whilst trying to respond to the school e-mail to let her go on a school trip that her parents certainly wouldn’t have approved to let her go on, and had subtly kept that piece of knowledge to herself for future reference.)

However, if it wasn’t her parents’ anniversary then it certainly wasn’t either of their birthdays. After all, this was a high-tech science facility storing what seemed like something that was very important – judging by how desperately Choi wanted to get in there – so they wouldn’t ever use something as obvious as that. But if not, then perhaps it was a sequence of random numbers that Heejin had no knowledge of, and all the possible combinations for the safe meant that they would be there forever trying to pick one.

She thought back to conversations shared at polite dinners with important political figures that visited their home to discuss things with her parents. Despite her dire boredom and improvised manner of entertaining herself with forming portraits with the food on her plate throughout dinner, she remembers her father being engaged in deep conversations of poetry and its symbolisms.

He had always had a passion for science and its intricacies, and he and her mother had always done their best to pass on this interest to their only heir – Heejin. But when he realised that the mere mention of ‘biology’ sent his daughter into her own, imaginative world, he turned to what he called “the wonders of poetry”. Vaguely, the repetition of the word ‘symbolism’ took cadence of her memories, the number of times her had tried ingraining that factor of the art into her mind repeating at her.

Emotions swelled in her chest.

The wonders of poetry…

No, the sequence certainly wouldn’t be random – her father place far too much importance on symbolism for him to dismiss an opportunity like this.

Perhaps there had been clues hidden in his poetry books in his study that would help him remember.

“I’m getting very impatient, Jeon.” Choi reminded her of her whereabouts. “I may just have to tend to Mrs. Jeon over there in a bit if you don’t do as I say.”

“No!” Heejin rapidly shook her head, voice cracking with desperation. “No, I… I know it I just need to remember it…”

Ignoring the doubtful energy behind her, Heejin frowned deeply and bumped her forehead against the metal surface, willing her memories to help her out for once.

Heejin had never really taken to poetry, having only read the beginning two pages of one of her father’s books several years ago before she ultimately gave up and placed it back in its shelf. In fact, Heejin never really spent much time in her father’s study until recently when she had been forced to research on vampires for her ‘mission’. It was then that she had been reminded of her father’s strange obsession with poetry.

Maybe if she had just dedicated as much time reading the forsaken poetry as she had his notes on vampires…

She was reminded of the story he had told her that day she had found a coffee stained page: the first time Heejin had ever acknowledge her father and said the words to his face, and he had been so elated that he just had to scribble down the date in his loopy handwriting…

A date.

An immensely important date to her father, yet vague enough that only he and her mother would ever be aware of it.

Heejin’s eyes watered as she came to realise the sequence of the passcode.

She wanted to do nothing more than burst into tears as she was reminded of the image of her father’s body lifeless in the white, untainted hallways. A man that had once held so much passion for weird poetry and a weird obsession to science.

As much as she tried telling herself that she no longer needed her parents’ affection now that she was nearing the age of eighteen, and that she was being childish for craving it, she couldn’t deny one thing to herself: the fact that her father’s subtle manner of reaching out to her had had such an effect on her, that she had snuck back into his study after he left for work and taken a look at that page once more. She had traced the loopy numbers scrawled in a rush with the pads of her fingers and looked at the coffee stained page in what she could only describe as longing.

Her eyes had skimmed over that sequence of numbers so many times that she could recite it in her sleep.

Sighing heavily, Heejin’s trembling hand reached for the padlock.

010426

Green light flashed into her eyes, and for a moment everything stilled.

The hefty click of something sliding open shook her bones, and the moment Choi loosened his grip on her she knew that she had made a grave mistake.

-

Jungeun jogged down the hallways as lightly as she could, careful not to let the harsh slapping sound of her shoes making contact with the pristine marble tiles ring out in the quiet facility. Haseul, Doyoung and Yeojin had cut the power supply two minutes ago and her and Vivi had set off as fast as they could into the building in search for the center room Hyejoo had been talking about.

They had agreed that Hyunjin stay behind despite her clear impatience of getting to see Jinsol once more, stating that her unclear mindset and brash behaviour would result in something going wrong. The last thing they could afford was everything blowing up in their faces. But Jungeun had to admit to herself that it was slightly hypocritical of her to stop Hyunjin for her desire to see Jinsol, when the only reason why her steps were becoming increasingly louder was because of her own yearning.

As if to prove her point, the soul mark engraved into the skin at her chest sizzled quietly.

To say that she was eager would be an understatement, and just thinking about that made the ground she stood on sweep out from under her feet.

She had been doing so well the last couple of decades, trying to ignore the fact that Jinsol was in the same country as her and she couldn’t see her. It had been going swimmingly – she had established connections with easily persuaded humans and built herself a name in important business boards. Power she could easily access when the time every came.

Choerry herself seemed to be moving on from the idea of Jinsol, despite her slight meltdown several years earlier that had sent her seeking for her creator’s whereabouts.

Everything had been going fine.

And then Viian had shown up at the estate with her human lover and a half-dead girl in her arms, begging her to bring her back from the dead. As if she hadn’t evidently already died.

It had taken her several quiet moments to identify the cutting emotion dragging across her chest when she looked at the face of the unconscious girl, but the closer she looked at her and the more she let herself go to those dark memories she had tried her hardest to bury under litres of alcohol and all types of hallucinogenics, the more she began to place who those features resembled.

As soon as she made contact with Hyunjin’s skin, Jinsol’s energy chaotically swept her up into that stupid stupor she had thought herself free from years ago.

A demon feeling emotions like these was embarrassing and demeaning and far far too disconcertingly familiar.

There was something that kept tugging her back to the same place. Maybe it was the soul mark, that reminded her of the promise she had made to herself and to the blonde all those years ago. Maybe it was the guilt of having ruined something so beautiful; for having taken a life so precious when it could have been everything she ever wanted.

Even now, Jungeun was throwing herself into danger thoughtlessly (rarely did she do things without thinking them through first and coming up with back up plans to her back up plans) all for a woman who told her she hated her with all her being.

For good reason.

To hell with being a demon, the guilt that had been leaching off her for centuries wasn’t something she was willing to live with for the rest of eternity.

“Lip.” Viian’s hand tentatively reached out to halt her, eyes shining that brilliant pink as she listened carefully. “We’re here.”

Her heart jumped in her chest as if attempting its best to respond to Viian for her, though her outward reaction was just a small hum of acknowledgement and a touch to her soul mark. She could feel it begin to simmer, as if anticipating the proximity of the other end of the string like it always did.

Viian eyed her carefully, that familiar watchful gaze scanning her appearance up and down. “I know it’s a little far-fetched, but maybe try to calm down a little.” Her voice was not it’s usual calming, soothing sound. There was a tautness to it that pulled the words together uncomfortably, and Jungeun could have very easily turned the suggestion on her had she wanted to. But there wasn’t any time for bickering. “Hyunjin was already through the roof, we don’t need to be doing the same.”

Closing her eyes frustratedly, Jungeun tried taking in a deep breath. “I’m good…” She knew Viian was right, and the best way she could help was if she kept herself calm and collected as always.

“We’re here to rescue as many hostages as we can, alright?” Viian repeated, having already muttered the plan under her breath more than twenty times on the way over. Jungeun could see the tension in her shoulders and the frown breaking through her stoic demeanour. “In and out, as quick as possible.”

Jungeun nodded steadily back at her, determined to do her cause justice.

Viian stepped through the dark with ease as if she were walking in a lit room. Jungeun followed after her just as easily.

The dark was always a demon’s friend, after all.

“Hyunjin!”

The way that Jungeun’s body automatically reacted to the sound of Jinsol’s voice was almost irritating, had not she grown used to it once more over the course of time they’d spent together. She tensed, ready to pounce on the source of distress, and her soul mark burned irritably the closer she got.

Watching as Hyunjin savagely tried tearing at Jinsol’s throat almost made Jungeun stop and consider her own sanity.

The anger and rage in her movements was nothing close to the longing they had witnessed earlier in the car, and for a moment she allowed herself to think that Hyunjin had been playing them the whole time. Except she thought back to the blood coating her hands when they’d found each other at the syndicate temple and the bleakness of her expression and realised that she should be focussing on more important things. Like trying to stop Hyunjin from killing Jinsol.

Jinsol grunted under the weight of the young girl, contorted grimace that scrunched her features up as she tried holding wrists back. She was on her back, and there were already smudges of crimson from where she had likely been dragged across the floor.

Jungeun noted that Hyunjin was not letting up, despite the constant attempts that Jinsol made at trying to get through to her.

“I order you to stop.” Jinsol strained. Jungeun hadn’t heard her use the hypnosis voice in what seemed like forever, but the power behind her words made even her stagger to a halt. “Snap out of it,” she begged the girl atop her, who’s surprisingly turquoise eyes had flickered doubtfully.

It seemed like Hyunjin was trying to gather herself, her eyelids shutting so tightly that Jungeun was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to open them once more afterwards. There was something in the way that she was moving that showed she was not herself. However, something rumbled inside of the girl’s throat that sent shivers down Jungeun’s spine and a horrified expression running across Jinsol’s face. And the unexpected sound rendered Jinsol to her place and vulnerable to the raised hand moving back to come crashing back down again.

When Jungeun’s fingers wrapped around Hyunjin’s wrist, she felt herself being pulled downwards along with the momentum of her arm. The force was one she had not been anticipating, and soon her shoulder was almost touching the marble.

Letting out a small scream of effort, Jungeun pushed everything she could into preventing Hyunjin’s hand from making contact with Jinsol’s head. She could feel the sickening dark energy emerging from the depths of her stomach. It greedily poured out into her muscles and wrapped around her forearm and joining at her fingers, victorious for finally being let out.

Hyunjin’s bright, turquoise eyes snapped to look at her face.

Jungeun startled.

It was as if she were staring into nothingness. Not even traces of a soul.

“Jung-“ Jinsol shook her head from the corner of her eye, before the blonde used all of her strength to push the wild girl off of her body. There was a reluctant tinge to her face as she used her leg to kick her farther away, trying to get as much distance between them and Hyunjin as possible.

Quickly, Jungeun helped Jinsol sit up from where she had been lying helplessly on the marble, careful not to touch the open wounds on her back that had been reopened during the scuffle.

Before Hyunjin could pounce on them again, a blur hurtled across the room and tackled her to the ground.

A bright light flooded the room at that moment, forcing Jungeun to squeeze her eyes shut to prevent herself from becoming blind.

Adrenaline pushing through her body, she tugged at Jinsol’s hand grasped tightly in hers (she hadn’t noticed when she’d even grabbed at it) to move her away from where Hyunjin was thrashing wildly like a rabid dog.

The blonde stumbled over her own two feet, weak even in that moment, and Jungeun slung her arm over her shoulders in a memorised manner. Her top priority was getting Jinsol out of the building and away to safety before either of them could get hurt. Then she could get Haseul to check on her wounds and maybe treat them so that they wouldn’t get infected.

Resistance tugged at her movement, but she pulled at Jinsol and powered through it. She may not have the same frighteningly fast ability to run as sanguisuges did, but she was a demon with the strength of one.

“Jung… eun.” Jinsol’s labored breathing brushed past her cheek.

Startling, Jungeun tugged the woman closer to her by the waist, fearful that she had been hurt. “What?” She scanned her pale-stricken face with wide eyes. “Are you hurt?”

The grimace did nothing to help the vigorous shake of the head. “No.” Jinsol tried pushing Jungeun’s arm away from her waist, managing to separate their torsos and allow cold air to sweep between them. “Let go of me.”

As if crashing down on her, all of the repressed emotions she had kept at bay, enforcing and reinforcing over years – centuries – came rushing out at once. She felt her heart do something strange in her chest – it stopped, then skipped, and proceeded to pound away furiously like it had a mind of its own. The mixture of anger, resignation, selfish hatred for being tortured for so long, hand in hand with the immense worry, relief and forever withheld affection did something strange to her mind.

“This is not the time for you to hate me right now.” Her voice split down the middle despite the thick way she had said it. Tears brimmed her eyeline and her fingers dug into Jinsol’s side. “I need – I need-“

When Jungeun had her first panic attack – something uncommon and impossible for demons to experience – she hadn’t known what was happening to her or why it was happening. It had been a horrible experience and she vowed to do anything that would keep her from having to go through it again.

If it meant getting Jinsol out of harms way, she would have to do just that.

Before she could decisively pull her towards the door, she felt her shoulder being ripped back and her entire weight being thrown down.

Next thing she knew, she was lying on the floor with teeth at her neck in a way she hadn’t experienced in years and whatever faux life she had in her was being drained out of her.

Whatever cries she tried to get out of her mouth were cut by strangled gurgles at the top of her throat. She forgot that speaking when being drank from was a terribly unwise decision. Really, she should have remembered that detail. Her own blood sputtered from her open mouth, dribbling carelessly down her chin.

“Fucking-“ A tug at the weight on top of her. “-get off!”

Choerry practically dragged Hyunjin away from her by the hair, outrage completely painting her entire expression.

Jungeun hadn’t realised how long it had been since Choerry had allowed herself to dip into her sanguisuge nature until she looked at the fiery purple hues burning into the girl at her mercy. The reminder that the little girls she saw as her cute, younger sister was actually a real-life killing machine stumped her. All she could do was lay there, staring at the way Choerry took the fist to the face from Hyunjin’s powerful punch and do her best to subdue her.

Perhaps it was because she had been laying in the same position since Hyunjin was removed, or because there was blood pouring from the open wound in her neck where the wild sanguisuge hadn’t bothered to close it.

The last thing Jungeun expected was to be tugged up and pressed into a warm body, her head limply coming to rest against a bare shoulder.

“Crap, crap, crap…”

Fingers weaved through the hair on the back of her head in a repeatedly brushing motion while Jinsol tried to lift her weight from her body. At her chest, her soul mark burned brightly through the red-stained fabric of her shirt, pulsing in time with the human heart in her rib cage.

Something wet pressed against the wound on her neck, making her flinch away from the pain caused by the pressure. “No…”

The hand that had been cradling her head held her more firmly. As if shaking her out of her weird state, the hand moved her back and forth. “Stay still.” She thought she saw Jinsol sternly looking at her through her blurry vision, and relief filled her mind. Maybe she didn’t hate her that much. After all, she looked like she was concerned about her in that moment, and when people are concerned it usually comes from a place of care, so-

“Ack!” Jungeun flinched violently when Jinsol’s thumb pressed against the wound. “What are you- what-“

Jinsol’s eyebrows tugged together in concentration. She took her thumb away from her neck and inspected it, before decidedly sticking her thumb back in her mouth and reapplying it back to the position it had been.

“Quit smiling like a psycho, you demon.” Jinsol muttered under her breath, annoyance in her voice though her expression said otherwise.

Jungeun frowned actively, trying to regain her composure. Hyunjin – that insolent little thing they had obviously been right about telling her to stay in the car – had just tried to eat her alive. There were obviously bigger things to worry about other than her unrequited love.

As Jinsol began tugging Jungeun up, what looked like Hyejoo’s body flew through them.

Following the motion with wide eyes, Jungeun watched as Hyejoo slammed against the glass wall and cracked the glass from the force. Another quick blur followed soon after, bright bluish light dancing around the frame of the tiny little girl serving as a vessel for Gowon. It was terrifying to watch the deity loom over the shivering body of a teenage girl, her back to them as she spoke down at her.

“You’re weak.” Gowon huffed, out of breath. “The both of you.”

Jungeun moved to help Hyejoo, feeling a sense of responsibility to the girl after having worked with her. But any sense of duty was wiped clean from her mind when the girl arose from her position in an eerily manner.

“Underestimating me again, Gowon?” Hyejoo spoke as if she hadn’t just been launched into a wall and almost had the life thrown out of her. “That was always one of your flaws.”

Reflexively, Jungeun reached to pull Jinsol down but panicked when her hand met thin air. As she fell from her standing position, she looked around the room in search of a familiar head of blonde. But before she could really get anywhere, a sweep of black energy burst over her head.

She heard Gowon’s voice crying something out followed by a sequence of crashes.

“No!”

Jungeun snapped her head towards Jinsol’s voice, finding her stopping Choerry’s hand from pulling the trigger of a large rifle. The distraction had been enough for Hyunjin to quickly pick herself up from the floor and use the same rifle to butt it against Choerry’s head.

It seemed like the strike was just enough to send the girl reeling, stumbling backwards in a daze.

Catching the dead weight, Jungeun tried dispelling some of the demonic energy laced around her arms but found that the unfamiliarity of the motion only sent sputters out of her fingers. Instead, all she could do was watch as Hyunjin rabidly tore across the small distance with her hand ready claw at her face.

Jungeun raised her hand once more.

If she had to kill her, then she would.

Anything to protect the people she cared about.

A loud snapping sound took her attention away from trying to gather enough energy to propel it at Hyunjin’s face, and instead directed it to where the girl was now crumpling into a heap.

Where her left leg should have been curled like her right leg, the knee down was skewed in a position that it shouldn’t have been skewed at.

The unnatural angle sent bile scrambling up Jungeun’s throat the more she looked at it.

Over where Hyunjin screamed in pain was Jinsol, with a fresh set of tears wetting her cheeks and the rifle held tightly between both of her hands as if she were prepared to strike again. Despite the defensive stance, Jungeun could see that even Jinsol was surprised with herself at the strong reaction she’d had. It was almost like she regretted it.

Unconscious in her arms, Jungeun attempted to shift Choerry’s body position so she lay comfortably on the marble.

Jinsol hadn’t moved from her position.

Sparing her a worried glance, Jungeun turned her attention to Hyunjin who continued to writhe like a madwoman on the floor, screaming incoherent things.

“Shh, Hyunjin…” Similar to how she had done the first time that she’d met the young girl, Jungeun placed one of her hands on her shoulder where the reopened bullet wound was and the other near her temple. “It’s okay now… go to sleep, Hyunjin.”

Jungeun clenched her jaw so tight she felt the muscle move. Hearing Hyunjin’s screaming go up a higher pitch as she pressed down on the bullet wound almost made her stop. But she couldn’t. Her hand touched the side of her temple, focusing on amplifying the pain that the girl was feeling so that her consciousness would give out under the strain. She knew that Jinsol didn’t want Hyunjin to end up being another casualty, so she did the next best thing.

When Hyunjin’s body lay limp on the marble, Jungeun let herself relax.

That was until she felt the weight fall against her back, sending her almost falling forward at how unprepared she was.

Her initial reaction was to flinch and try to attack whatever was attacking her, but when she finally noticed the shaking that moved her entire upper body she refrained herself.

Jungeun tried turning in place.

Despairing cries is what she was met with, and tears sprung to her own eyes as she felt her own body move in time with Jinsol’s. She could hear the pain in her voice – could feel it in her soul mark digging uncomfortably through her skin and against her ribcage where her heart was.

Hesitantly, Jungeun wrapped her arms around Jinsol’s back. When Jinsol all but collapsed against her, head burying into the nook between her shoulder and neck like she used to, Jungeun held onto her like her life depended on it.

Which it did.

Without Jinsol’s existence, she couldn’t exist on the lower plain.

Not like she would want to, anyway.

-

“What is that.”

The devilish grin that Choi presented her with did nothing to soothe the abhorrence in her body. “Why Miss Jeon,” his dry lip slip under the strain of his wide smile, blood sprouting across his mouth, “this is your precious parents’ life work.”

Heejin stared on with nothing but horror.

“They’re beautiful.”

The mutt let out the most revolting, ear-splitting screech before tossing its head back and snapping its jaws. Saliva dripped from where its sharp fangs were, and Heejin was suddenly taken back to that night in the alleyway when she and Hyunjin had almost died.

“They are the children of Lilith,” Choi grazed his fingers over the thick glass holding the creature back. “A gift from Saerim herself.”

Piercing screeches followed. Rows and rows of mutts all throwing their heads back as if rejoicing in unison.

Heejin looked on.

“But deep down,” Choi said. “This is your inheritance.”


	29. twenty-nine

“Get them out of here.” Jungeun firmly stared at Viian, who had come back to see if there was anything more that she could do. There was red staining her shirt from where she had been carrying injured civilians, as well as a thoroughly concerned expression donned on her face. “Restrain Hyunjin with as much as you can, she isn’t behaving like herself.”

Viian shouldered the girl swimming in and out of consciousness, looking like she wanted to object. On her other side was Choerry, who was doing her best to keep her eyes open.

Breathing heavily through her nose, Jungeun rolled her shoulders back and tried shaking out her limbs. “I’ll have to finish Chanwoo off.”

There was hesitation coloring Viian’s posture, even as she held the two heavily injured girls in her arms. “Jungeun, it’s too dangerous.” She looked like she wanted to argue against it, but Jungeun could see the way she didn’t sound too completely sure of herself. They both knew that someone had to do this now. “We can regroup and come back to finish him off later…”

“If we leave this for later, who knows what kind of situation this will devolve into.” Jungeun reminded her. She could read by her expression that she didn’t really need to convince the sanguisuge of anymore, but it was more of a comfort to herself rather than anyone else. “I’ll get it done.”

Viian’s teeth flashed white at her as she tugged at her lower lip. “I’ll come back as soon as we have the Hyunjin situation sorted… Haseul is already tending to the survivors.”

Jungeun nodded, feeling an emptiness settle in her chest.

This was her fate. This was how she could redeem herself after all these years.

Hyunjin was mumbling nonsense into Viian’s hair, small trails of blood trickling from the side of her mouth. She looked like she was trying to consciously say something but her body wasn’t cooperating with her, and Jungeun momentarily worried that she had caused some serious damage with the pain enhancement she had done. Taking notice of it, the eldest sanguisuge doggedly tightened her grip around the two girls and took off, disappearing without another moment’s notice, most likely trying to get them to the nearest medical expertise.

“You’re not doing that alone.”

Jungeun jumped, having forgotten where she was for the slightest of seconds.

Turning to Jinsol in surprise and outrage, Jungeun felt indignation rise in her chest. “Like Hell I am.” The only injury she had managed to sustain throughout the whole encounter with Hyunjin was the bite at her neck that the sneaky little thing had managed to slip past her defences. Compared to the rest of their entourage, she was the one who was in best conditions to fight, considering Viian had been doing her best to evacuate whatever survivors had been left. “You’re in no condition to try to launch yourself in harm’s way – you can’t even stand by yourself!”

“Are you saying I’m weak?” As if to prove her point, Jinsol pushed herself from where she had been supporting her weight at Jungeun’s side. Her fists clenched tightly at her sides and there was the familiar furrow of the eyebrows that told her Jungeun was going to have to do more than merely deny something to actually stop her. “I can still fight.”

“I’m not letting you come with me.” Jungeun reiterated as harshly as she could, her voice shaking with frustration. The idea of having Jinsol there in these conditions, while she fought with her old lover…

“Kim Jungeun, you are not my keeper.” Jinsol squared her shoulders, chin tilting in that challenging manner that almost had Jungeun convinced of her act (it was the bruises and blood coating her skin that gave the whole thing away). The blonde had always managed to get her way whenever it dissolved into a stubbornness match, having the patience and determination to sit through Jungeun’s annoyance. She also had the privilege of not being absolutely wrapped around the other’s little finger. “This is something that I have to end – it’s something that I have a right to end.”

Panic flooded Jungeun’s chest. Even centuries later and hearing Jinsol talk about that man still made her skin crawl. There was always something that crept through Jinsol’s entire being whenever Choi Chanwoo seeped into the conversation, and it always made Jungeun feel like the smallest person on earth. She supposed that it was that feeling that had encouraged her towards the catalyst of the worst centuries of torture, easily falling under the manipulation of Saerim.

Still, ignoring that entirely, there was something in the way that Jinsol pronounced ‘ended’ that made her think this was not just about cutting off a toxic ex.

Resolute, Jungeun stepped closer to Jinsol, getting into her space. As best as she could, she emanated whatever demonic aura she could pull from the depths of her vessel and channelled it all into her voice. “I made you a promise.”

Recognition flashed in Jinsol’s eyes, followed by a sharp stab of pain that crumbled her entire expression.

Proudly pushing out her chest, soul mark burning fervently underneath the thinning fabric of her shirt, Jungeun tried to control the small dabs of fear appearing in her demeanour. (Fear was one of the things that Jungeun hated the most about being on the lower plane – it had always made her feel more human than a demon should have.) “I intend on keeping that promise until I have completed each and every last part of that contract,” she continued to watch as Jinsol’s stature began to wane, “including the part where I do everything in my power to make sure you live.”

Something was triggered in Jinsol as she heard those words, and Jungeun could see the exact moment that the fire was reignited. “Even if it costs you your life?”

Jungeun didn’t say anything. She had already come to terms with the situation as soon as she found out that Jinsol’s life was in danger.

Realisation dawning on Jinsol’s face as she took the silence as the answer she had seemingly been dreading, the blonde stepped away from her. “I’m not letting you take another thing away from me.” Her voice is quiet, and her eyes avert in what Jungeun thinks is submission. But when she watches in slow-motion as Jinsol’s body weight shifts towards the glass room, she realises it was nothing close to that.

“Sol-“

She blinked and the blonde had disappeared from where she had been standing in front of her.

The sinking feeling in her chest was highly reminiscent of the night Jinsol stood at the threshold of her old bedroom, expression devoid of emotions and the blankest pair of eyes she had ever seen.

To say that she ran was an understatement – Jungeun used all her energy to propel herself across the building, muscles in her body tightening under the strain and pressure. Her focus being on the familiar string tying her to the reckless woman currently throwing herself into an inevitable death, the only thing she could think of is absolutely tearing Chanwoo apart limb from limb if he even laid a hand on her.

A guttural sound tore through the building, and Jungeun almost thought that there were more wild sanguisuges to take care of.

If only it hadn’t been accompanied by the image of a devilish mutant glaring at her from across the hallway where the glass room was. She could see Hyejoo standing over the body of the once blonde girl, her shoulders moving up and down heavily, but her attention was immediately dragged to the movement of the beast rearing its head and screeching.

Hellhounds.

Though Jungeun hadn’t seen one in what seems to be a millennia, and the only place they had been thought to have existed were in the dark forests middle plains.

The thing came tearing down the hallway towards her, beady eyes glinting with a familiar blood lust she’d seen in starving sanguisuges when they wanted blood. It was when the mutant was a few feet away from her that she took notice to the slight difference between the larger frame of those in the middle plains in comparison to the one she was staring at in those moments.

Jungeun allowed the demonic energy to feed into her human vessel and sidestepped at the last moment, grappling her fingers onto the side of the beast in an attempt to gain control of its body.

It tugged at her resistance, and she had to release as to not get dragged along with its momentum as she had earlier with Hyunjin’s fist. The thing was on its fours, height reaching just below her chest, and even though its size didn’t hold a candle to the hellhounds that towered over humans in the middle plain, the way that it clicked its jaws at her still made her stomach lurch uneasily.

The surprise at seeing one in so long also had a part to play in why the thing was able to knock her off balance and send her scattering across the floor.

A white-hot flash of pain burst from her shoulder where the mutt had buried its heavy head. Jungeun felt her mind go blank for that small period, the only thing on her mind being ‘this is how everything ends’, before she came to her senses.

With an ease she had forgotten that she had, she pressed the palm of her hand into the beast’s rumbling neck and expelled a bout of energy. In response, she received a well-deserved whimper and a howl of pain.

Jungeun grimaced as she gripped her bleeding shoulder, glaring at the wild thing struggling away from her like a beaten animal.

It had conceded far easier than the ones she was used to dealing with in the middle plain, though she figured that its size and origins had something to do with that. Fortunately, it seemed like it was still made in a similar way, meaning that it most likely had all the same weaknesses she was taught to exploit with her energy.

Watching as the thing staggered away, she picked herself back up.

A bolt flew towards a blonde busy battling with another one of the beasts and clung onto her arm.

Instinct overrode every muscle in Jungeun’s body and her arm was flying up in a practiced arc, the dark energy had tried shooting out before now allowing itself to be commanded. And sure enough, the concentrated power spun from her fingertips and shot accurately into a mutt’s head. The thing fell off easily, having been struck in a weakness in its skull that gave way to weaker muscle.

“Jinsol!” Jungeun called out without thinking much of it, though as soon as she finished there was another ambush on her and her attention was diverted.

Expertly, she seized it by its long muzzle and clamped down at its mouth with both of her hands. She grunted to keep the jaws from opening and snapping her face off, and as soon as she felt the beginnings of her power losing control within her, she let it loose.

Blood splattered against her face as the mutt’s mouth tore off, leaving open flesh where its jaws used to be.

She heard Jinsol yelling out and immediately moved in that direction, keeping an eye out for the beasts streaming from the metallic cell shining bright light into the room as if the Heavens had opened. The sheer amount of them was enough to send a chill running through her burning body, the thought of having to deal with all of them leading her to the same conclusion every time.

Jinsol fought hard against the beast lunging for her stomach, her hands catching in its long fangs and bringing blood to the pale surface.

Feeling overcome with a scorching passion, Jungeun leapt at the hellhound and wrapped her arms around its neck. Its fangs wouldn’t be able to reach any part of her body due to its long muzzle, and it seemed as if its strength came mostly from the muscle build up rather than its weight, meaning that it wasn’t as heavy as it looked. However, she hadn’t anticipated the claws that extended from its paws like an agitated cat and sunk into her forearms, dragging downwards in a desperate manner.

Gasping from the sharp sensation it sent shooting up her arms, Jungeun felt herself be blinded by the pain.

Before she could even think to let her energy shoot from her hands, the thing was already slumping carelessly against her, deadweight.

Standing above her and looking down with an unreadable expression was Jinsol, battered, bloody and bruised but somehow looking like a Heathen’s miracle with the way the luminescent light projected behind her. And despite everything, Jungeun’s brain malfunctioned at the image in front of her and she let herself lie beneath the weight of the monster that had almost tried taking their lives.

“You!”

Hearing the grating voice drag itself searingly down a blackboard pulled her out of her stupor, and both Jungeun and Jinsol looked towards the entrance to the cell.

All movement came to a stop around them, as if hearing the man’s voice had been an order to stop.

Chanwoo was breathing heavily, his shoulders rising and falling so dramatically that Jungeun was surprised that he hadn’t fallen to the floor from his fit. “I will kill you,” his eyes flashed dangerously from the shadow obscuring his features, digging deep into Jungeun as if trying to do just that from where he was standing. “I will send you scampering back into the pits of Hell where you came from…” Staggering forward, Chanwoo’s arm twitched at his side. “I’ll make sure that you get what you had coming the moment you decided to touch my family’s precious life!”

A burst of sound resonated through the building, though Jungeun wasn’t too sure if she had registered correctly from the way her entire body was jolted.

She felt hands gripping at her elbows, fingers digging into the open wounds that had been created by the mutant. Jinsol stood beside her, not looking at her but anguished blue eyes watching her old lover.

As if disorientated, Chanwoo’s head snapped around the room trying to locate where they had moved to.

Jinsol removed her hands from her, but slowly slid so that the back of her body was shielding Jungeun’s from the rifle in Chanwoo’s arms. From where she was standing, Jungeun could see the lashes from the whipping still open on the blonde’s back, strands of hair sticking to her sweat lathered skin. If anything, it was Jungeun who should be in Jinsol’s place.

“You… You’re protecting her?” Chanwoo shivered as his eyes came into contact with them, finally having recalibrated. He spoke to Jinsol with what was disbelief and slight desperation. Jungeun could see the grip on his rifle faltering. “After everything she’s done? To us? To our daughter?!”

“What Saerim has done.” Jinsol trembled, skin burning feverishly. “Everything that Saerim did. She loved toying with the people around her like we were her puppets – she used us and did whatever she pleased whenever she wanted.”

“That bitch is a murderer!” The air around Jungeun closed in on her, suffocating her.

She knew. She was well aware of that fact.

Had been every day for the past three hundred years.

“I know,” Jinsol caved.

Jungeun didn’t know what she had been expecting from her, but she knew then that she hadn’t expected Jinsol to admit to that so easily after everything that had happened. She had told herself for years that Jinsol had a right to hate her with a passion – that she had a right to want her dead just as much as she had wanted the Olde sanguisuge dead. But hearing that Jinsol thought she was a cold-blooded murderer – without her screaming it in her face and without any traces of anger in her voice – it took her completely by surprise. And she wasn’t too sure that she had a right to allow herself to have that reaction.

“But so are you.” There was a shake in Jinsol’s voice. A slight reluctance to acknowledge it.

Chanwoo faltered. He faltered so much that Jungeun struggled to keep in place and not rush forward. But judging from the way that Jinsol tightened her grip on the side of her shirt (when had she managed to get her hand on it?), it would be a bad decision to try anything like that.

“You can’t… think that.” Chanwoo’s hands rubbed over and over the black surface, eyes boring into Jinsol with an intensity that made Jungeun shift in her place. There was nothing remotely romantic in the way he looked so sickeningly obsessed withe the blonde.

“It was Saerim who manipulated those sanguisuges into our home.” The lights in the room flickered, as if lightning were striking at that precise moment to add to the dramatics of things. “Saerim who took my daughter’s life.” Jungeun thought she could see movement from the bright room Chanwoo was standing in front of. “Saerim who killed you without any mercy.” She briefly considered the thought of it being a hellhound who hadn’t heard Chanwoo’s orders, but every other creature in the vicinity was still as immobile as if they had never been alive in the first place. “And now you’re doing exactly what she wants.”

Chanwoo’s face contorted and compressed into what looked like denial. Annoyance toiled inside of him as his eyes wandered around the room, trying to find reasoning to argue against Jinsol’s words.

Jinsol took a deep breath, air audibly rasping in her throat. “You’re no better than Jungeun.”

And Jungeun had no time to even register the rejection and pain from the statement, because the movement that she had been seeing wasn’t another hellhound. In fact, she had not been expecting her to still be in the building.

Heejin swung her arms from over her shoulders in a downward arc towards the crook of Chanwoo’s neck, appearing to be holding something in her hands. There was a brief moment where Jungeun could see the rage alive in what she used to think was Heejin’s docile features. A dangerous flame was alight behind the brown hue – one that Jungeun had grown far too familiar with – and it fuelled the dramatic movement as she completed her movement with a guttural grunt.

Chanwoo crumpled with a yell.

Beasts howled.

Jungeun could feel one launching itself at her from behind before she could see it, and her time lag only allowed her to spin and do what she could to push the wide mouth away from her.

The thing screeched in her face, the muscles inside its mouth vibrating from the sound waves and rancid breath fanning across the expanse of her nose and mouth. Fingers jammed between its jaws, Jungeun pushed upward with her lower body rooted to the floor and readjusted so her hands could clamp around the muzzle in that familiar manner.

And as she went to ignite her energy and channel it through her arms, her whole world lurched in a nauseating manner and she was being dragged across the marble surface of the floor.

Shards of broken glass clipped into her skin. Puddles of blood seeped into the tattered fabric of her shirt, her skin moist from excess sweat and other’s gore.

There was two of them on her, and she knew because one was pinning her shoulders down with its claws gripping into her flesh, the predatory way it loomed over her making the adrenaline shoot through her body. The other crashed onto it, fighting for a place above her as if she were the next meal and they were ravenous for a taste. Jungeun could feel her veins jumping from the way her heart was pounding away in her chest, the warm sensation of her soul mark burning at her chest now dulled by the pain in every inch of her body being made keenly aware.

Fangs snapped into her skin at her shoulder, and she allowed herself that moment to let out the cry that had been building up inside of her.

For a moment, Jungeun let herself go limp.

There was no way that they could win this fight – not with Jinsol already previously injured and fighting against someone who was very significant to her past. The fight was one against hundreds, and Jungeun knew that she stood no chance in defeating them all even with her knowledge on hellhounds.

Jungeun – a demon made from the very hands of the ‘Devil of Hell’– prayed to the deities that she would be granted her place back in the middle plains.

She thought she had been stupid to think that she even had a chance at redemption.

“Jungeun!”

Yet there was some part inside of her that she had never acknowledged but had always been the driving force for her throughout her whole life.

Her mind disappeared for those short moments where the energy she had been repressing all this time rushed from her body in an abrupt explosion. There was an instance where she transcended existence and she felt herself being launched into the other dimension.

All senses were stripped from her.

There was nothing there but the very raw being that gave her vessel life.

It all came crashing back when she felt claws slashing at her from behind, though she felt herself being piloted by the demon from within that had been waiting for a chance to strike.

With an eerily serene mindset, Jungeun tore the beast to pieces. Not even the slightest bit of hesitation dragged at her movements. Only precision was tainting her bones.

As if dancing, her feet lightly glided across the surface of the marble floor. By muscle memory, she was able to let out a sequence of movements that repelled whatever attack it was that came her way. It was well practiced throughout her time in the middle plain and brought to near expertise in her centuries on the lower plain.

But she wasn’t the same as she had been all of those years ago, and the fatigue from all of the fighting was beginning to show in through the tense muscles all over her back and shoulders.

A cut here.

A bite there.

Nearly beheaded in her moment of slowness.

Jungeun gritted her teeth, fighting through the mild screaming in the back of her mind telling her to stop and take a break. But she knew if she even considered stopping for a single second, she would be eaten alive.

She wanted to do more – wanted to go and help Jinsol fight Chanwoo; to go and see if Heejin was still alive and battling; wanted to end all of this in one move.

With a roar rumbling from deep in her chest, Jungeun let the demonic energy shoot from the palm of her hands and tear straight into two mutts simultaneously brawling over who would get to land their teeth into her first.

As she was about to do the same with the third that was quickly scampering over the limp bodies of those that had suffered from Jungeun’s merciless kills, her attention was caught by a deafening sound.

“Stop!”

Jungeun turned to watch as Chanwoo pointed the end of the rifle at the side of Jinsol’s head.

In her moment of weakness, the mutt tackled her into the marble.

Not being able to bare to watch the monster tear her face off, Jungeun tightly closed her eyes.

And waited.

And she flinched when she felt cool air around her.

And she waited.

But instead-

“My, my, if it isn’t the infamous Kim Lip.”

Jungeun’s eyes flew open, adrenaline flying through her once more like a shot of expresso.

If it had been anyone else, Jungeun would have thought that the person looming over her would have looked like an angel – branded by the halo of light flooding from behind them, an immaculate appearance and a sinfully good-looking face.

“You’ve built quite the name for yourself back home.”

“Jaehyun.” Jungeun didn’t feel her mouth moving, but she heard her own voice pronouncing the old name as if it were just yesterday that the two had been conversing.

The demon chortled happily, looking far more relaxed than what the situation called for. It was as if nothing in the world mattered to him. There was no burden resting on the expanse of his shoulders, and there were no sins that could be pinned on him that tried dragging him into the darkest pits of Hell every day. He looked like the freest man Jungeun had ever laid her eyes on, and she didn’t know whether to welcome him eagerly as she would have done centuries ago or to despise him for being the very epitome of what she used to be.

Jungeun looked around her, then.

She was still in the same damned room, and the mutt was still bringing its fangs down into her face to eat its meal.

Chanwoo still held a death-tight grip around a weary Jinsol, rifle pressed into the side of her head so hard he may have been aiming to drive it straight through her skull.

Heejin lay lifelessly over the threshold of the cell.

But nothing moved.

The air was still – cold – and the only movement was emanating from her own chest, which was heaving up and down form the strain of breathing, and Jaehyun who was casually surveying the area as if he were a tourist visiting an attraction.

“Quite the situation you have here, Lippie.” His lips curled into a mischievous grin, though there was barely any amusement behind his blank eyes. “Leave you alone couple of years and suddenly you’re causing great disturbances in the plains of existence.” His fingers danced across the surface of a turned over metallic desk. “Can’t say the boss is very happy.”

Jungeun blinked at him, still trying to process his presence.

“What? Not gonna give me a hug?” His sharp teeth gleamed in the dark, and Jungeun was disturbed by the nostalgia it came hand in hand with.

“Am I dead?”

A loud laugh erupted from his chest, and suddenly he was keeling over with a hand on his knee for support. “’Dead’?” Pretending to wipe a tear from his eye with his knuckle, Jaehyun straightened and looked at her carefully. Curiosity sparkled in the gleam of his eyeball. “You really have been here for too long.”

In spite of her exhaustion, irritation crawled up on her. “What the Hell are you doing here, Jaehyun?” She struggled against the claws of the mutt, trying to push herself up but finding the resistance as if she were trying to push against a statue.

“Alright alright…” Jaehyun slugged towards her, feet dragging across the surface of the marble floor soundlessly. When his bare feet came to a stop beside her head, he let his weight drop and sat cross-legged beside her, chin coming to rest in the palm of his hand. “So it’s not really your fault that the plains of existence are crumbling, but in all fairness, you said you were going to go get milk from the grocery store and haven’t come back home in three hundred years.”

Jungeun let her head fall back against the ground.

She had forgotten the wonders of interacting with Jaehyun.

“What is it?”

Finally, Jaehyun’s expression darkened. “Meddling from some old souls, thinking they’re all that and suddenly bribing incompetent demons to come back down to the lower plain.” He sighed as if it were something that happened every other week, though there was something in the way he pursed his lips that told her he didn’t look too particularly thrilled with the situation. “I’ve come to clean up this mess.”

Jungeun felt a pressure in her chest alleviate, relief flooding through her. “So you’re going to help?”

“Help? Oh no.” Jaehyun leaned back onto his hands, looking towards the tall ceiling in contemplation. “New rule that demons can’t interfere with physical occurrences without a vessel – something to do with a demon making a human fall in love with them and a bunch of half-demon babies running around… have to say boss wasn’t very impressed with having to get rid of them.”

And once more, Jungeun felt her world crumbling around her. “Well if you can’t help, then why are you here? Why now?”

Jaehyun’s face lit up with recognition, eyes scanning the hellhound currently pinning her down. “Oh damn, were you about to die?”

Jungeun’s heart rate picked up. She was painfully aware of the predicament she was in but having someone voice it to her was… something else. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t just been put through a rollercoaster of emotions in the middle of a time pause. “I thought that demons didn’t ‘die’.”

Rolling his eyes at her, Jaehyun let his head loll towards Chanwoo and Jinsol. His eyelids blinked for a moment, pulling downwards and then dragging back up in a slow process. “Hey, she looks a little familiar…”

Jungeun’s heart jumped in her chest again.

The comment took her years back, her mind suddenly flooded with a multitude of flashbacks that attacked her when she couldn’t even get a chance to pull her defences up.

An old bedroom donned with pale curtains keeping the early morning moonlight from streaming in. Dark mahogany four-post bed with a mattress large enough to fit an entire family of four desperately in need of shelter during those harsh times. White skin painted with a series of bruises and an unfamiliar pattern carved into the flesh of a familiar chest.

“Ah!” Jaehyun snapped his fingers as he swung his arm across, the motion making Jungeun jump in surprise. “She’s that one! The one strangely pretty human you broke the rules for! Man, I can’t believe it’s been that long since you signed the soul mark… feels like yesterday I had to draw that symbol on you.”

At the slight jab, Jungeun let out a low grumble. “She’s not human.”

Jaehyun hummed. “That would explain why you haven’t come home to us… you decided to sign a contract of eternal slavery to an immortal woman.” His blank eyes danced around Jinsol’s figure, and even if Jungeun knew his only intent was to survey what had been keeping her so long, she still let out a drone of warning. “I could see why… you’ve always had a type for the problematic ones.”

“We are not going to discuss what my type is right now-“

“Speaking of,” Jaehyun talked right over her, smile on his lips, “that crazy old bat has been causing more problems than what boss can handle – she’s been running circles around all of the demons up there – and now she’s been stirring the pot down here, too.”

Jungeun felt a sickness in her stomach as he indirectly associated Saerim with those who were ‘her type’.

“Which, you are not handling very well, by the way.”

“I can tell, thank you for that.” Jungeun scowled, unable to keep the sarcasm from seeping out in the presence of an old friend. It really had been so long, and it was always easy to slip back into old habits whenever she was around him.

“Anyway,” Jaehyun swatted his hand carelessly in the air. “I’m here to collect that one’s soul once you’re done with it.”

Jungeun followed the length of his finger, finding the somewhat hilariously tense expression donned on Chanwoo’s face. When the world’s time had come to a halt and nothing was moving, she supposed that she had a right to laugh a little at the way his features pulled together so unpleasantly.

“You’re going to take him back?” Jungeun found herself hopeful once more. All their problems could be solved in that moment.

“Yup. After you kill him again, of course.” Jaehyun said, as if he didn’t clearly see the rifle that the man held in his tight grip and the complicated position that Jungeun was in. Of course, if she were still a demon with no understanding of the lower plain, then she would assume that trying to solve this issue would be as easy as just ‘getting rid of the problem’. “I’ll be waiting in the sidelines.”

“Wait, are you seriously not going to do anything?” Jungeun desperately tried reaching out to him but felt the weight of time stop her in her tracks.

Jaehyun blinked at her. “I already told you, boss put a new rule that demons-“

“Come on!” Jungeun groaned, frustration simmering over the edges. “How can you collect his soul right this second if I end up dead and anyone else that has a chance to stop him disappears off the face of the earth?”

He rocked back and forth in his place, that immature aura that she hadn’t realised she missed so much dancing around him playfully. “I mean… we could always come back and collect him later.” An annoyed expression formed on his face and he flicked a speck of dust from the fabric at his knee. “There’s just some paperwork involved with the whole inhabiting a vessel, but I’m sure I can get it done in a couple of years.”

“We don’t have a couple of years.”

Jungeun understood why he was so nonchalant about earthly matters, but after spending so much time with humans and mortals she supposed there was no way she wouldn’t have change of mindset. Unlike her, mortals had much more fragile souls which required careful attention when it came down to handling them. Getting to know all of these mortals and how they lived their lives – adopting their habits and customs – she felt herself become a part of them. Even thinking of abandoning them just for a couple of years made indignation rise inside of her.

Jaehyun studied her carefully.

It appeared as if he had changed, too. No longer was he the same carefree demon they had both been in the beginning. There was a weariness to his eyes that hadn’t been there before, lurking with its vice grip around his indecision.

“You’re a fucking idiot.” He said, finally.

Jungeun settled her jaw, lips clamping together tightly.

“You soul tied yourself to her, didn’t you?” The sudden exhaustion that enveloped his very being sparked pity and ruefulness in her, but she stood beside her statement.

Not knowing what else to say, Jungeun just stared at Jaehyun. She hoped that in the time they had spent apart that he would have grown more. He would have experienced what it felt like to truly exist with consequences and the risks of hurting others and himself. That there was something inside of him that separated him from other demons.

“You owe me this time, Lip.” Jaehyun scowled, pushing himself from the ground and dusting himself off with exaggerated care. “If boss finds out about this and gets mad at me, I’m telling her that you told me to do this.”

She went to say ‘thank you’, to tell him that she had missed him and that she would try to contact him in whatever way she could, but one second he was stood there with the smallest of smirks on his face and the next she felt a weight being lifted from her.

Where the hellhound had been about to tear her to pieces was now an empty spot, the creature disappearing as if into thin air.

Briefly confused, Jungeun ran her hands down her body to see if she had managed to dream everything up in a momentary madness. But sure enough, there was a stinging pain on her forearms and shoulders, as well as the stiffness in her muscles as she tried to move through the sludge of her fatigue.

“Wh-what did you do?” Chanwoo’s voice trembled through the abruptly silent room, bringing Jungeun back to herself. Jinsol looked slightly dazed in his grip. “Saerim will hear word of this-“

“Saerim is going to burn in the pits of the Ring when everyone finds out what she’s done.” She felt strangely at peace with the situation. Perhaps it was the demon inside of her still piloting her body, or the conversation she had had with Jaehyun informing her of The Devil’s displeasure with the mortal. “And you will suffer the same fate as her once you’re taken back.”

Fear riddled the man still, and Jungeun saw a shiver crawling down his spine.

He didn’t give her a chance to think before he was spinning the rifle and aiming it at her.

Jungeun reflexively jolted away from the path of the bullets, taking refuge behind the metallic table and trying to gather whatever strength she had left.

Jaehyun had already done part of the job for her, so she supposed it was now her turn of following through with their deal.

Barely glancing over the edge of the table, Jungeun propelled a burst of energy in Chanwoo’s direction. The sound of rubble exploding and scattering across the floor, followed by a hissed out curse confirmed she had almost blown him to pieces.

The sound of bullets stopped and was replaced with a cry of pain.

Jungeun jumped from the back of the table.

Jinsol had thrown him to the ground and had pounced on him, rifle scattered away from his greedy grip. She tried to wrap her fingers around his throat, but his own hands had desperately seized them and were holding them back with strained ease.

As Jungeun stopped to aim for his head, Jinsol was boosted off his body and thrown directly into her.

They both tumbled backwards, Jungeun’s arms automatically wrapping around Jinsol’s to prevent her bare body from suffering further injury.

Chanwoo scampered for the rifle, and Jungeun shot towards his general direction. He flinched away at the threatening impact, moving instead to hide behind a large filing cupboard.

Jinsol rolled off from her, fleetingly faltering against the ground as life drained out from her. She lay motionless.

The scorching of the soul mark at her chest that had been easy to ignore screamed then. Jungeun quickly grabbed her by the shoulders, tugging her up from where she lay face down on the floor.

Her thighs ached from the effort as she pulled the blonde towards a table. From the corner of her eye she saw Chanwoo skittering across the room, but she had no time to try and blow him to pieces and to get Jinsol to safety.

As soon as they were hidden from Chanwoo’s vision, Jungeun leaned over Jinsol’s frighteningly still body. She tried listening for breathing coming from her mouth, but not a brush of air graced her cheek. Nothing crossed her mind as she inhaled a deep breath. Running through the steps as if she were watching someone else do it from the outside.

Jungeun pushed air into the immobile body, her hand hovering over Jinsol’s soul mark and connecting theirs together.

She had no time to celebrate Jinsol’s startled whimper before bullets were pounding relentlessly at their cover.

When there was a brief pause, Jungeun peeked from the side of the table and located Chanwoo standing proudly between scattered obstacles with his rifle in his arms. She reached out to shoot energy at him, but anything that was left inside of her sputtered and crumbled.

Noticing her, he let another round fly through the thick air.

Jungeun felt her heart sputtering nervously against her chest, barely pumping as she came to terms with her condition: her body had ran out of energy despite her mind telling it to do another thing.

Thoughts telling herself that she should have paced herself better, that she should have taken whatever chances that had presented themselves, that there was no chance they would both survive this wrapped around her.

“Jung, breathe.” Jinsol, ironically, gripped at her knee.

With every smack of bullets hitting their cover and the marble around them, Jinsol would flinch. But there was a confident expression that she wore as a mask when she looked into her eyes.

“I’m doing this.” She exhaled, her breath brushing against Jungeun’s mouth and since when had their foreheads fallen together like they used to?

One moment Jungeun was relishing in the comforting contact and the next she was slumping into an empty space.

There were a series of dull clicks followed by a string of curses.

Chanwoo had ran out of ammunition.

Jungeun, despite being aware of the state she was in, scrambled over the impromptu cover and ran in his direction.

Where Jinsol had just driven a shard of glass deep into his chest.

She stopped then, watching the scene in front of her with wide eyes.

Jinsol was scarily still, but Jungeun could see the way her shoulders rose up and down in a steady manner. As if it hadn’t been her lover who’s chest she had just driven a blade into.

Chanwoo groaned then, grip surrendering on the rifle that clattered to the floor in what Jungeun thought was victory.

His hands reached towards the open cut in his chest, and Jungeun thought he looked somewhat peaceful in spite of it. There was something about the way his eyes followed Jinsol’s arms and to her face that was far too innocent. As if he hadn’t been himself this entire time and he hadn’t had any semblance of idea of what he had done. Followed by a grimace of pain and the welling up of tears.

Jinsol followed him to the ground as he weakened, her hands helping him down carefully.

“-love- I-“ Blood flew from his lips.

Paralyzed, Jungeun watched the whole thing from afar. It felt as if she were intruding on something she should have never been a part of. The scenario reminded her too much of earlier times, where the one who had been over Chanwoo’s body was the monster she despised the most in the world. Where Jinsol had been crying out a storm of emotions.

Now, the blonde only looked tormented as she let her hands be grabbed by the man’s fingers.

“But I was just…” Chanwoo looked apologetic, eyes begging Jinsol to look at his face.

“Doing it for us.” Jinsol finished for him but refused to meet his gaze. She sounded like the world was collapsing in on her. “You were just doing it for us.”

His eyes became clouded with fury, his grip on the sharp in his chest tightening and spilling more blood. “That bitch- she took everything- my life- she took you- I did it for Eunju-“

Jungeun felt her heart ache.

“Eunju wouldn’t be proud of you if she saw you like this.” Tears slipped down Jinsol’s cheeks.

Jungeun wasn’t sure if she was saying it to him or if she was talking to someone else.

Chanwoo cried harder, his sobs deafening in the large room. “I want to be with you more…” His hands danced up Jinsol’s arms, but the latter simply grabbed at them and held them against his chest in denial. “There was so much I wanted to do – so many things I wanted you to see.”

Unease began to swim inside Jungeun.

He was too desperate.

“You made me see something I never wanted to see.” Jinsol said.

Jungeun didn’t like the way his grief was swelling around his aura. There was something not quite right with it.

“Let me make it up to you-“ Chanwoo grabbed at her arm, bringing her closer. “I will make it up to you.”

Jungeun moved. “Jinsol, don’t-“

“Chanwoo, it’s ov-“

Jinsol’s voice was cut off. It sounded like it had been taken from the air and snipped at with careful scissors.

“I will make it up to you.” Chanwoo’s gaze burned too brightly for Jungeun’s comfort and Jinsol’s tense body sent cold running through her back.

“Don’t touch her!” Jungeun screamed, pulling Jinsol from where she had been hovering over the man. Him looking accomplished despite her pulling the blonde away made her heart skip several beats in her chest. “You’re going to burn in Hell.”

Chanwoo grinned, teeth sporting crimson. And he didn’t move.

But neither did Jinsol.

Jungeun felt everything inside of her come to a stop as her eyes registered the cut in the woman’s flesh, oozing with dark liquid from her stomach. Her previously blue eyes were now a dim brown, and Jungeun never thought she’d find herself begging for the sanguisuge in Jinsol to come out then. For her to bare her fangs at her and push her away. To tell her that she hated her with her entire being and to try to destroy her.

To at least move an inch of her finger. For her chest to stutter a breath.

The weight of the world shifted.

Jungeun could feel her ties to the lower plain loosening. Coming undone string by string.

They were leaving. The soul mark was fading away.

She could feel the flesh at her chest beginning to heal. See the way the mark she had grown to love fade away from Jinsol’s chest.

Jinsol was dying.

“Jungeun, I’m sorry…”

She ignored the pity in Jaehyun’s voice. Ignored the fact that the only reason she could hear it now was because they were being dragged into the middle plain, where she would return to her duties and Jinsol would be cast away with the other mortals.

No. She would rather throw herself into the Ring than let that happen to her.

Jinsol had so much of her life left. She had so much to live for – so many people to go back to. People that loved and cared for her.

Jungeun would do anything in her power to protect her life. She vowed it.

“Jungeun, you can’t do anything.”

“Yes I can.” She stubbornly said, not moving her gaze an inch from the woman’s face.

“No, you can’t possibly-“

Jungeun let her essence come apart.

And let it grab at the beautiful wandering soul.


	30. thirty

It felt like being pulled out of a pool of thick, grimy petroleum.

There was viscosity clinging to her lungs as she raggedly gasped, her breathing becoming short puffs of desperation. Her mouth tasted like she’d just had a mouthful of gasoline held there for several weeks what with the way her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and the stale taste on the back of her tongue made her stomach twist. Even her eyes seemed taped shut, as if her eyelashes had become heavier during the time, she was unconscious.

Beneath her she could feel the soft mounds of an expensive mattress, cushioning her body perfectly as if it had been her own bed her whole life. The sheets draped over her body were incredibly soft and weightless on her skin, which she was grateful considering the heat burning at her legs.

Groggily, Heejin dragged herself into consciousness.

A tall, tall ceiling greeted her. One which she had never met before in her life of living in apartments and visiting city friends’ homes.

The room was a pleasantly warm white, the walls painted roughly with a soft yellow that glowed brightly in the balmy sunlight. It helped smooth over the sweltering panic that had been growing in her stomach, the cool air in the room suddenly making itself known to her and cleaning out her lungs.

Heejin blinked.

And suddenly the faint pressure that had been on her stomach blinked back.

Hyunjin stared into her face, eyes hooded with fatigue and cheeks covered in fading bruises and small plasters.

Her heart jumped in her chest and her body began to warm with life flooding back into it. She didn’t know what she was experiencing in that moment but looking into the sunlit golden-brown eyes so close to her felt like coming home again.

Their hands met halfway – Hyunjin pulling hers from where she had been resting her upper body on her stomach and Heejin from where it had been limply resting on her back – and their fingers tangled together naturally. Feeling Hyunjin’s long fingers between the slots of hers steadied her; it gave her an anchor that she could tether herself to as she came to terms with everything that she could remember from the past couple of days.

As she continued to hold Hyunjin’s gaze, she noticed the redness around her weary eyes and dried tear tracks tainting her hollowed cheeks. Her hair was messily strewn into a low ponytail, and her grayish shirt hung loosely around her frame.

A beat.

Hyunjin’s eyes were weltering with moisture and Heejin was tugging her from the chair beside the large bed in the center of the too-large room and pulling her towards her.

As soon as she was within reach, Heejin’s arms were wrapping tightly around her neck.

She thought it was Hyunjin shaking her body as she settled into the mattress beside her, but she soon realised that she too was experiencing the torment of emotions when her voice let out an ugly wail.

It must have been impossible to feel so many things at once, for so many different reasons.

All of the things she had hopelessly been repressing had finally caught up to her and were now clawing at her ankles, dragging her back into her headspace where everything was being torn piece by piece. She still felt herself not quite conscious, the pain almost dull around her body when she knew that the injuries she suffered both physically and psychologically should be killing her.

Loneliness loomed in the corner of the large room, prowling along the ceiling with its filthy claws and deploring tears falling down its dark face. A dull roar followed after it, calling to her quietly. It grew closer when she thought about white hallways and red clothes. Even closer still when she thought about blind rooms and bloody hands.

As it dropped onto the end of the white bed, prowling forward with blotchy tears, Heejin felt herself almost come to peace with its existence. Almost welcome it home.

But her eyes followed the length of the body beside her – the unfamiliar cast wrapped around a leg, the bruises staining tanned thighs, the trembling hands gripping the thin shirt she wore – and she found herself leaning further into it. And the loneliness that loomed over the both of them on that mattress, cold breath hissing down the length of her sore neck, melted away when she felt Hyunjin press her mouth against her shoulder.

She gasped and suddenly flew forward.

Whatever little contents was left in her stomach were emptied out at the side of the bed.

Heaving and retching, Heejin felt salty tears slide down the length of her nose. Grief gripped her heart, making it hard to continue beating comfortably, and it flowed out of her as she thought about her father’s face.

For a moment she lost track of where she was. Black spots danced in her vision, taunting as she tried regaining her senses. Her sense of smell had left her, prickling at her nostrils while she breathed heavily, moisture on her lips in an uncomfortable manner that made her stop crying momentarily.

When she leaned backwards, she noticed the weight that had latched onto her back.

Hyunjin had pulled her hair aside, holding onto it delicately, and wrapped her arms around her waist to hold her from falling off the side of the bed.

Heejin felt embarrassment cloud her, suddenly feeling disgusting for throwing up while she was being hugged.

Pulling away, Heejin tried to ignore the shame on her cheeks and the way her tears just began falling harder. She had betrayed the girl trying to comfort her while she was emptying out her insides – had hurt her irreparably – and yet she was still there when she woke up from her sleep.

Hyunjin pushed herself up, long shirt pooling at her hips, and easily tugged her back towards her. Heejin fell into her arms, back pressed against her warm front.

A chin rested itself in the crook of her neck and a head leaned against hers.

Throwing her head back against the shoulder behind her, Heejin stared up at the white ceiling and blinked back her tears.

She knew what Hyunjin was trying to say through her hug. She knew what she meant when she lovingly nuzzled the side of her head and pressed her closed mouth against her shoulder again. She repeated the action until Heejin had let her posture relax.

But just because Hyunjin had forgiven her, it didn’t mean that she forgave herself.

-

“My dad is dead.”

It was late in the night when Heejin finally spoke.

Heejin had washed off all the grime that she had felt snuffing her body and they had both changed into a new pair of clothes (the sick by the bed cleaned up promptly).

Her voice was high from misuse and her sentence was almost split in two by a voice crack.

But she had said the only thought running through her mind aloud and she continued with, “it was my fault.”

It came out easier than she had thought it would. Her voice hadn’t shaken that much, and she didn’t feel like losing her weight in tears. It was as if she had pointed out that it was a full moon that night.

From where she had been curled up against her, Hyunjin pushed herself up with the arm that was over her waist and caged her against the mattress. There was a deep frown on her face, her eyes now dry though it didn’t change the redness of her nose.

Heejin stared back up at the girl and felt herself falling in love all over again, heart fluttering in her chest at the sight above her.

“You’re stupid.”

She was stunned for an entirely different reason.

And suddenly there was a strained laugh that was bubbling out of her. It shocked her into silence for a moment, before she looked at Hyunjin’s almost amused expression and it set her off all over again.

All she could think about was how despite everything that had happened, she still found herself lying in the girl’s arms. Even after she had abused her trust and had caused everything to go wrong, Hyunjin was still there at her side just like she had been when this had all started: at the party she had only wanted to go to because she wanted to impress her.

Despite everything, Heejin thought that she should be allowed to celebrate the good things just as she could mourn over the bad.

And being in love with Hyunjin was one of the best things that had happened to her.

Hyunjin’s chuckles melted off into a fond expression (they could both still feel the darkness clinging off their figures but pushed it off for the time being). Her features softened in an open manner that Heejin hadn’t had the privilege of seeing before the chain of events, and in some strange way she found herself grateful for the change.

“I didn’t know about your father,” Hyunjin’s voice was as soft as she looked, and her hand hesitated above her cheek. “Whatever happened… I’m sure he didn’t deserve it.”

Heejin swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled emptily. “Chanwoo shot him. And I couldn’t stop it – I couldn’t save him even though I-”

Expression hardening, Hyunjin cupped her face and brought hers closer. “Chanwoo was a fucking psychopath – he will rot in Hell for what he did to your dad and what he did to-“ Something washed over her face, but it was gone in an instance. “What he did… it’s not on you.”

Her thoughts said otherwise, and Heejin was about to vocalize that when she saw the other girl coming to a slow realization.

“Chanwoo was the one that shot him, not you.” A block inside of Heejin’s chest moved. “Chanwoo was the one who pulled the trigger, not you.” Reluctance to hear the words made Heejin’s hearing dull over for a moment. “You can’t blame yourself for what Chanwoo did…”

Knowing that the words held immeasurable amounts of truth behind them but being unwilling to accept them in that moment, Heejin instead focussed on the distant look in Hyunjin’s dark eyes and gently pulled her down.

Heejin sighed against soft lips, the feeling of weightlessness still wrapping her up and lifting her off the bed in spite of everything. There was something inside of her that told her she would never get used to the way it felt to kiss Hyunjin, but it quickly came to terms with it as the latter pressed firmer. It was easy – the easiest thing Heejin had done in the past couple of weeks.

They pulled apart (not without Hyunjin placing an extra peck for good measure) and Heejin combed through the hair at the front of her scalp, making sure to drag her fingernails across it.

Hyunjin’s eyelids fluttered, and she turned her head to brush her lips against the inside of Heejin’s wrist.

“Talk to me, Hyun.” Her voice had returned to its normal deep tenor.

Speaking into the silence of the vast room in an unknown location made her feel unhinged. As if a sudden realization that everything that could have possibly changed had done just that and there was no going back from it. For a moment she felt panic swell up inside of her, but it was gone as soon as Hyunjin opened her eyes again.

There was pain present as she debated whether to tell her or not. Heejin could see the way her jaw clenched pensively.

“Jinsoul-unnie…” Hyunjin pursed her lips and furiously began to blink back at the moisture invading her eyes again. “Jinsoul-unnie she… she hasn’t woken up and I heard Haseul-unnie and Vivi-unnie saying that she was dead but-“

Empathy almost drowned Heejin as she watched Hyunjin try to wrap her mouth around the word ‘dead’, feeling like another piece of them was brought together and branded by the same mark. She was probably feeling the exact same way she had since she woke up, and had probably not spoken to anyone about it.

Hyunjin’s throat moved as she swallowed, and her head swiveled to stare at the bedside table instead of Heejin’s soft, welcoming expression. “Jungeun-unnie says that she’s going to get her back.” She said quietly.

Sickness lurched Heejin’s entire soul. Bitterly, she wished that she could say the same thing about her father and actually believe it.

In that instance, she angrily looked at Hyunjin and thought about asking her what was so wrong with that. But she pulled herself out of the moment of weakness and wondered what the hell was wrong with her that she’d think something like that.

“She’s been trying every single spell that she knows for days now and Vivi-unnie can’t even stop her from trying and-“ A fire sparked inside of the girl, and she was moving to sit up in the middle of the bed. “-and I wish she’d just stop trying, because it would be better knowing that she was gone for real rather than hoping that someday she’ll just… wake up. That she’ll be alive again and she won’t really be dead this time-“ Hyunjin’s voice was rising, anger building up like a crescendo that would eventually have to come crashing back down, so Heejin moved to be there when it did. “Jinsoul-unnie just wanted to rest, Heejin. She looked me in the eyes and said that she was tired but she still carried on for us and now… Jungeun-unnie won’t even let her have that! She deserves to be at peace!”

Heejin watched as Hyunjin curled her legs to her chest. She wrapped her long arms around them and tucked herself into a small ball, forehead resting against her forearms.

The silence was sweltering in the summer night.

For once in their dynamic, Heejin was the one left without knowing what to do to comfort someone.

She knew how close Hyunjin had grown to the blonde vampire in their time together. Had even been jealous that someone else had known her best friend so intimately just as she had. But from the way that Jinsoul had been so protective over Hyunjin, she realised that the latter hadn’t been caring for her unrequitedly.

“She was my family.”

Heejin had thought herself above jealousy a long time ago, but even now it made a surprise appearance. And she hated herself for it because it wasn’t even rational for it to be there.

She pushed it aside and squashed it until it no longer existed. (Stamped on it several times for good measure.)

“She deserved better.” Heejin whispered, the words coming from the depths of her heart. “I know I didn’t really know her very well, and I’m not the best person to say this to you, but I’m sure she loved you. She would have been grateful to have you by her side, and I’m sure she would have wanted the best for you. That I know.”

Hyunjin didn’t say anything.

For the longest time, they didn’t say anything.

By the time the sun was slowly dancing back up the sky, Hyunjin had already pressed a kiss to her lips and had moved from the large bed.

And Heejin was alone.

-

Chaewon tugged at the metallic cuffs at her wrists, the cool surface chilling the skin there.

“How do they feel?” The woman with short hair, Haseul, asked tentatively. She donned the same white lab coat that Chaewon had first met her in, and the same round glasses perched on the end of her sharp nose so that she’d have to look over the top. This time, though, there wasn’t any dirt or filth from the aftermaths of whatever fit Gowon had decided to throw. There was a tired expression marring her features.

Observing the bracelets curling around her wrists, Chaewon shrugged her shoulders. “Like bracelets.” Her voice was quiet, but it was enough for Haseul to hear and to nod.

“Good, I didn’t want them to be a bother for you to wear.” There was an almost pleased smile on her face as she carefully reached out to grab Chaewon’s hands, but it was gone the next second. The ghost of it, however, presented itself in the glint in her eyes when Chaewon nervously placed her wrists in the woman’s clasp. “It looks good – no one will know what they’re for if you just tell them that it’s jewellery.”

Chaewon nodded timidly, feeling her hands growing clammy the longer she let them rest in Haseul’s.

Noting her uncomfortableness, Haseul immediately released her and rolled back on her office chair. “Good,” she said loudly, as if to startle the awkwardness out of her own body. “Now, you don’t mind if we run some tests, do you?”

The way the question was phrased suggested that there was really no option, but Chaewon still shook her head slightly out of politeness. It was the least she owed to these people. Especially Haseul for being so willing to help her after everything that she had done to them.

After waking up from the Gowon-induced trance, the first thing she had done was cry her eyes out.

She could remember everything that had happened during the time that Gowon had inhabited her body. Remembered almost feeling exactly what the blonde had been feeling as if they were one person – as if she had been the one to order Hyunjin to murder Choerry and she had been the one to say horrible things to Hyejoo – the girl who was also possessed by a deity.

Or who possessed the deity.

Over the past days, Chaewon had had time to mull over everything that had happened.

Gowon had been surprisingly quiet in her head for the first time since she had stepped into her body. She was surprised when she awoke without any resistance scrambling for the controls to pilot. (Every morning, she still anticipated the familiar headache that would come with Gowon’s presence.) Instead she felt what should have been a relieving amount of silence and some confidence of finally getting her own body back.

She’d had no control over what Gowon was doing with her body. She had tried her hardest to will herself forward and beat her at the mental battle that always came with remaining in control of her own body but had ultimately failed. In fact, for the first time Gowon had been able to completely subdue her and she had almost fallen unconscious in her own brain.

Usually, she would find comfort in the fact that Gowon was a deity; there was no way that she, a human, could ever think to win against a goddess.

Usually.

When Hyejoo had stood over her, face eerily calm and expression still as humane as it had been throughout their whole battle, she realised that it wasn’t because Gowon was a deity that she wasn’t able to gain control.

It was because she herself was weak.

Hyejoo was in the same situation as she was: there was a deity inside of her own body called ‘Olivia’, who Gowon had known and had been associated with for a very long amount of time. They both originated from the same place and they were both made of the same matter. Even Gowon had thought that Olivia was stronger than she would ever be, and that fighting against her powers would be a lost cause – even if she wasn’t the one in control.

And that was the problem.

That Olivia – the deity – hadn’t been in control and yet Hyejoo had still managed to beat Gowon without killing Chaewon.

Even with Gowon unleashing everything she had, Hyejoo had still been able to win.

Hyejoo the human.

All of this time that Chaewon had thought she couldn’t win against Gowon because she was a deity, she had just been making up excuses for herself. She had been enabling the goddess to do as she pleased with her body when she was the only one with the power to stop her. Had been telling herself that it was okay and that it was only normal that that had happened.

Except it wasn’t and she knew it. Had known it all along.

Chaewon knew she was the problem.

Which was why she had turned to Haseul for help.

“Alright, I’m going to start at 5 milliamperes.” The woman warned, sparing her a small glance to check if she was ready. Chaewon shook herself out of her stupor and nodded, shifting her seat.

Nerves swam inside of Chaewon’s blood. She had never really experienced an electric shock, but from what she knew it could kill someone easily if there was a wrong amount of power applied. Had she not come to the conclusion that she had, she would have never even dreamed of wearing electric bracelets purposefully. But for now it was the only solution that she could come up with. Something that would keep her under control since she obviously couldn’t even do that herself.

The tension in her muscles paralyzed her as she waited for the shock to come.

And come it did.

“Ah!” Chaewon jumped in her seat, stumbling off the stool clumsily and flinging her arms out to reach for a table to support herself. Instinctively her hands scrambled to the bracelets, desperate to tug them off, but once she breathed in deeply through her nose and remembered why she was doing what she was doing, she steadied her hands across the surface.

“Are you okay?” Haseul leaned cautiously towards her, her hand reaching out to touch her shoulder in case she needed comfort.

Feeling a blush rising to her cheeks from her loud reaction, Chaewon shook her head before realizing what she was doing and nodding vigorously. “Ya-yup!” It was more of a squeak than assurance, but it did its job as Haseul sank back into her chair. “Yes, it’s just- it just surprised me.”

“Well, it’s not everyday you get an electric shock.” Haseul grinned, her cheeks pushing up into her eyes teasingly.

Chaewon tried smiling back but her facial muscles were too tense, and she knew it had come off more like a grimace.

That was so awkward, she could almost hear Gowon saying, but the deity was as quiet as ever.

Letting her settle back into her chair, Haseul rolled forward again and took her hands in hers. If she felt the sweat on Chaewon’s palms, she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead she unlocked the bracelet with the magnetic key and lifted the metallic piece off her wrist to check the skin underneath. Her soft fingers tickled the surface, sending shivers crawling undeterredly down her spine. Fortunately, she finished examining the still pale complexion not long after and tightened the bracelets once more and slid back to where her set up was.

“How did that one feel?” Her eyes were focussed on the notepad, writing in scrawls with a ballpoint pen. “Was it too much? Do you want to lower it?”

“I want to go higher.”

Haseul’s head snapped up towards her. Brown eyes gawked at her, and the confidence she had felt when saying that immediately melted away when she saw the disbelief behind the expression.

Seeing how Chaewon had shrunk in on herself, Haseul quickly moved to finish writing her notes and began to nod. “Uh- yeah… yeah, sure, we can try a little higher.” Her voice was coated with uncertainty, but she still did as she said and moved towards the power battery they had gotten from the pretty vampire, Vivi. “It’s only 10 milliampere, so you don’t need to worry about it too much, but as soon as it does feel off to you just try to give a signal.”

Chaewon didn’t even have to time to nod tentatively with how shocked she was. There were a million thoughts running through her mind as Haseul counted down kindly somewhere in the distance and just as the woman reached to ‘one’ her hesitation got the better of her and:

“Wai- AH!”

To say that she was shocked would be an understatement.

Flying off her seat, Chaewon convulsed momentarily in the air before she was scrambling for the table leg with her clenched hands. Her vision was impaired from the overstimulation of her senses, and it wasn’t like the neurones in her brain would allow any thought processes for her to properly register the pain. So when the burst of electricity that had been coursing through her suddenly dissipated and her senses came flooding back all at once it was no wonder that a headache came in its stead.

“Woah!” Haseul scrambled to turn off the power battery, dutifully pulling at wires before she too was flying off the stool and crouching beside her. “Are you okay? How did that feel?”

“Ye-aup.” Chaewon tightened her lips together as she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Something was stirring inside of her consciousness. With bated breath, she waited for Gowon to come charging out from the depths of wherever she had broodily disappeared to, but nothing came.

After studying her quietly for a few more moments, the studious curiosity had hidden itself again and Haseul watered down into a calmer version of herself. “I think we have enough data for today.” Her expression was serene, and her hands were gently guiding her to stand from where she was crouched.

“I’m fine!” Chaewon felt panic build when Haseul reached out to take the bracelets from her wrists. “I just need to catch my breath, and then we can go again, I swear-“

She hadn’t even taken notice that her hands were trembling until the older woman had wrapped her fingers around her tremoring ones. Chaewon didn’t know what to make of the resigned expression on her face – was it because she knew that Chaewon wouldn’t be able to withstand any higher? All she knew was that there was this burdening look to the weight of Haseul’s shoulders that told her she really shouldn’t push her boundaries more than she had.

Wordlessly, Haseul slipped the bracelets from her skin as easy as removing silk.

Chaewon felt her cheeks burning as she stared down at her lap where her fingers were tangling in the bottom of her oversized shirt that she had gotten from Haseul. It was one of her own – she knew from the familiar scent that clung to it and the habitual wrinkles on its edges – and she supposed she had a right to be surprised that any of them had gotten a hold of one of her belongings at all, considering that where she had been previously staying had mysteriously been wiped clean. As if no one had been there at all.

Of course, she knew who had provided her clothes, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t be anymore surprised.

In fact, she shouldn’t have been surprised when she glanced up at the large doorway and saw Choerry cautiously leaning against the marble, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of her jacket.

The sanguisuge was a little worse for wear, considering the dark circles under her inert eyes and whiteness to her chapped lips. Her skin grayishly clung to her bone structure, an unhealthy tone to it that was worrying even though her specie were stereotypically pale. It wasn’t just the appearance that had changed about the girl. There was something that Chaewon could relate to as Choerry stood so unsure of herself in the home she had grown up in.

When their eyes met, Choerry’s expression brightened in recognition before becoming dulled by that same ‘something’ clinging onto her. Renounced, Choerry leaned away and began to duck back into the hallway.

Chaewon parted her lips to call after her – to encourage her to come and talk to her again – but nothing came out.

Choerry’s shadow began to disappear down the gleaming hallway, sunlight flooding the entire building and presenting her with a clear view of how the sanguisuge hid herself behind corners.

Something akin to disappointment wrapped itself around Chaewon and the jaw she had loosened became all too tight at once. It was her own fault for not saying anything to Choerry in that instance. The least she could have done was wave at her to make her feel welcome. She knew very well that they were both still very much feeling the guilt of their actions, and that Choerry was most likely blaming herself for her creator’s death.

“Yeojin-ah, I can literally feel you staring at me and it’s messing me up.” Haseul called out without looking up. Chaewon startled from where she was sat, head darting up and looking around the large room for said girl.

To her credit, Yeojin didn’t give up the whereabouts of her location before Haseul began counting down from five, and then the smaller girl was spilling from behind the doorway to their right that lead further into the estate where Chaewon had come from, having stayed at one of the many spare bedrooms.

“What gave me away?” Yeojin bustled into the room, chaos and all wrapped around her like a well-placed scarf. “Was it my timing? Were my shoes too loud? Dammit I knew I should have kept with the stealth slippers!”

If Chaewon hadn’t been sitting so close to Haseul, she would have missed the amused tug of the mouth on her face. The woman’s eyes were slowly brought back to life as the little girl stomped unceremoniously towards them. “One, I wouldn’t dare call those hideous green slippers ‘stealthy’-“ sending Yeojin on a rampage about her beloved ‘frog slippers’. “-And second, for once it wasn’t you but that friend of yours who didn’t really try hiding behind the door.”

The speed at which Yeojin whipped her head towards the dark doorway should have been illegal. Frankly, Chaewon was surprised that the girl hadn’t had whiplash from the strain it must have put on her neck, but she kept going as energetically as ever.

“Unnie! You ruined my whole gig!” Making a show of throwing a fit, Yeojin stomped her boots loudly against the floor.

“Stop it,” Haseul affectionately tugged her towards her by the elbow, effectively pulling her off balance. “You’re so loud.”

“I thought you said you were a ‘pro’ at being stealthy.” There was mischief in her frown when Yeojin directed the glare at Hyejoo, who was stood expressionless in the doorway. Her voice lilted playfully with good intent, inciting a small smile on Chaewon’s face as she watched her amusedly. “Seems to me like you’re not cut out to be my partner in crime.”

Hyejoo simply stared back. The girl was so quiet that even Haseul glanced up curiously from her work to see if she had suddenly disappeared, but sure enough she was just standing there and watching them carefully. Admittedly, it sent agitation scampering across Chaewon’s skin at the blank look. There was something about the quiet watchful gaze on her entire being that brought out the fear in her in a way she had never wanted it to.

Rubbing at her bare wrists, Chaewon looked around her to see if it was her that Hyejoo had her eyes so trained on.

As if coming out of a deep trance, Hyejoo threw a deep scowl in Yeojin’s direction. “I didn’t want to be your partner in crime anyway.”

Despite her harsh words, Yeojin took them and brightly responded to them. “Sure you don’t.” She shot Hyejoo a conspiring wink as if they shared an intimate secret she wouldn’t disclose – to which the other simply wrinkled her nose at. “And the sky is pink and you weren’t trying to kill that girl over there with your eyes and my sister definitely isn’t hooking up with the vampire that’s been taking care of us.”

Chaewon had no time to introduce herself to Yeojin before Haseul was inelegantly choking on her spit and dropping everything to spin on her little sister. “I don’t- I am not-“

“Totally in love with Vivi-unnie?” As if pityingly, Yeojin patted her older sister’s arm like saying ‘my condolences’. “We’re sharing a room. Do you think that I can’t see you two every time you’re ‘just talking’?”

Haseul snatched at the hand on her arm before Yeojin could even do so much as pull away. “What me and Vivi do is none of your business-“

“Ooh, since when did you drop the ‘unnie’?”

“I will murder you.”

There was something warm about watching the two girls interacting. It wasn’t something she had ever imagined for herself amid everything that had been happening, but now that she was seeing it right in front of her very own eyes, it didn’t seem so unattainable.

If there was a smile on her face, no one said anything.

-

The crunch of gravel under the weight of tyres signaled the end of her journey. Flicking the keys in a quick move, the quiet hum of the engine came to a stop. In that epoch the only soundtrack playing in the background was the innocent symphonies of the birds flocking together in the trees and the warm summer breeze rolling by the estate.

Vivi sat back against the leather seat, hands resting on the bottom of the steering wheel.

Warmth boiled on the skin on her fingertips and exposed thighs. The windshield gleamed under the relentless beating of the sun that had sat itself high in the sky like any other summer’s day. Except that the usual clench in her stomach that came with it wasn’t there.

Sighing, Vivi dragged a hand down her face and glared at the roof of her car.

It had been almost a full day since she had last fed, yet she wasn’t feeling the standard hunger that would have been edging her towards the blood supply in the boot. Hadn’t felt it for a little over a week now.

She hadn’t been feeling anything normally since Jinsoul had died.

Immediately after the thought, her instincts sought out that familiar heartbeat pulsating the old, unique blood around a certain body build. They sought out the subconscious, steady breaths that would be taken even when under the strain of harsh movement. Those had always been signals that her senses could refer back to as a starting point – look for her best friend’s heartbeat and build from there. But there was nothing there.

Hadn’t been since a little over a week now.

Sickness swept over her and she clenched the keys tighter in her hand to try to bring herself back down to earth.

If someone had told her a month ago that the constant that had been there for her entire three-hundred-year-old existence would be erased in just a short instance, she would have tied that person up to four different vehicles and had them hanged, drawn and quartered.

But it had happened. And the only person who felt like they had just been through the old Western form of torture was Vivi herself.

At first it hadn’t really registered. She had been too busy helping Haseul tend to Heejin’s apparent injuries and checking whether or not the human girl would live. Had listened to Jungeun’s repeated promises of “I can fix this, I can bring her back, I’m bringing her back” faintly and instead done what she could with the relentless bleeding on the girl’s head.

It only struck when the heartbeat she had kept close had fallen from its wavelength.

And here she was now. Trying not let her life fall apart because the one who had helped keep it together in the first place was gone.

A splatter brought her back.

Vivi glanced to where it had come from and noticed the dark liquid glinting back at her from the control box. She followed its trajectory to where she had been gripping her keys and noticed that she had held them a little too tight. There was a small slimmer that slipped down the palm of her hand and produced another small splatter.

Focussing solely on that, Vivi opened the glove compartment where she kept tissues and calculatedly tore some out. Wiping away at the grime was oddly therapeutic. Seeing the control box return to its sleek, luxurious form after the crimson was taken away was rewarding in its own way.

She felt more than heard the heartbeat somewhere not too far off from where she had parked her car.

Vivi squinted through her pink vision towards where its epicenter was, locating the anxious human girl from almost a mile away. It was hard to miss her when she was a black dot in the bright green, white, and yellows of the garden’s estate.

Hesitating, Vivi stared blankly as Heejin made her way towards the structured hedges.

Dark brown hair fell to cover her face as her heeled feet kicked a pebble away from the pathway. She looked too distracted to be able to see where she was going. And sure enough, the human walked straight into one of the hedges.

Wrapping more tissues around her hand where the indents of the keys were already beginning to heal, Vivi pushed the door open. Sliding out of the vehicle, she felt her bones pop unsteadily for a moment, having made the long travel from almost the other side of the city to where the Kim Estate was in the rural outskirts of the other. The air felt refreshing when she was outside rather than sitting idly on the warming leather seat.

She made her way over to where Heejin was noisily loitering around. The human girl had no sense of subtly.

“If I wanted, I could have killed you right this instance.”

Heejin jumped a literal foot in the air, spinning around already reeling to throw a futile punch in Vivi’s direction. It was amusing hearing the girl’s heartbeat skip for a moment.

Though she had to admit that that line wasn’t the best opener for someone who she had only just met and had never actually directed a sentence to before. It was an old habit she was trying to get out of ever since moving in with Haseul and Yeojin, who had informed her it wasn’t the most polite thing to do when introducing oneself to a stranger. The poor girl looked almost terrified-

Vivi blinked at the way Heejin’s expression melted into something she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Why didn’t you?” The girl muttered out lowly.

Not sure if she was being threatened or pleaded to, Vivi merely observed the human girl as she deadpanned her.

Seemingly coming to her senses, Heejin shook her head and forced out a nervous laugh. “That was a joke…” Though both parties equally knew that ‘a joke’ was the last thing that had been. “What are you doing here, Vivi-ssi?”

Vivi just looked at her for a couple more moments, trying to decipher exactly who the girl was. She had heard all about how she was the daughter of people who were influential within the human government from Hyunjin herself when she had been trying to justify why she shouldn’t kill the human girl. If she were being honest, the only thing that had stopped her was the borderline disdaining look that Haseul had been sending in her direction when she had insisted one too many times.

She wasn’t too sure just what she could disclose with the girl, still not over the damned silver dagger that had been brought near a group of sanguisuges.

“Finished my meeting up with whatever sanguisuges were left from the purging to convince the government not to order a bounty on all of us.” She couldn’t help but be blunt, feeling slightly bitter towards the girl who seemed to have the strongest link to the organization currently trying to get her and the people she loved killed.

A bitter look crossed Heejin’s face at the mention of said organization, managing to throw Vivi slightly off-guard at the cold reaction.

“I don’t think it worked very well, so there’s a chance that we might have to disappear.” Vivi glanced toward the large building, managing to listen to the familiar and comforting heartbeats of the two humans she had grown fond of.

It had worked in the past when human and sanguisuge relations were at their all-time low and she and a group of sanguisuge had had to seek shelter elsewhere. They had all traveled around the world as a group, several others choosing to settle in countries where they felt like they had grown attached to. She remembered Jinsoul considering staying in America during the 40s, it being their last stop before coming back to Korea but being swayed last moment and boarding the ship with her and Doyoung.

Doyoung that morning, with his recuperated injuries that had healed in a short amount of time, had looked distraught just as she had when they were talking about Jinsoul, and Vivi had been surprised to see a small tear fall from his eye during their conversation.

But he had been the leader that the blonde had chosen to lead in her place, and he had quickly pulled himself together. They had both done their best to try to broach a deal between the two species, but the situations compared to the last time something of this sort had happened was different. This time, they had to deal with the hatred from the surviving sanguisuge who were appalled when they found out their friends had been used as sources of blood bags for the creation of the same hellhounds that had tried to kill them. Along with the fact that Jinsoul, who had been leading what would become the syndicate with her reputation of single-handedly assassinating all the Olde, was no longer there.

Vivi met Heejin’s conflicted eyes.

And there wasn’t a human within the government that would help convince a group of humans to help with the deal anymore.

“The government…” Heejin’s face was scrunched up as if she had something bitter in her mouth, and she absent-mindedly kicked another stone away with her black heels. “All they do is stir shit.”

At the vulgar saying, Vivi’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. That was certainly not something she had been expecting to come out of such an innocent looking face. Especially not when the girl was still dressed in her beautiful black dress and had her hair down all prettily.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.” Heejin quickly amended, only seeming half-apologetic for her outburst. “They’ve always been too corrupt. I’ve known it since I was a child.”

“Right,” Vivi slowly followed alongside the distracted girl, who was shuffling further into the gardens as if she were being drawn in by a magnetic pull. “Your parents have some kind of political power, so I’ve heard?”

She heard the click of teeth coming together as Heejin clamped her jaw. “Had,” she corrected, and all at once Vivi came to understand just what exactly the human was going through. (After all, she had been around people who had had to go through the same processes that the young girl was going through. She herself had to face it very early on in her own life.)

They walked alongside one another, letting the quiet rest between them.

It’s not like she was particularly fond of Heejin – she had only just begun their first conversation – but she had to admit that the aura she exuded was alluring. In a way that Vivi found herself calmly letting her mind settle to forget everything that she never wanted to remember.

As they reached the center of the garden, where Kim Lip had designed to put a fountain roughly one-hundred years ago, Vivi felt their little stroll come to a slow stop. She remembered first visiting it just after it had been constructed, the demon allowing herself to feel pride over the beginning of a project that she hoped would allow her to heal from the past.

She just wished that Jinsoul would have been able to see it and heal from it too.

The water reflected the azure skies to them, displaying the image of a flock of birds soaring high above them. It created a serene emotion deep inside of her, though she supposed that was exactly what Kim Lip had been striving towards when she had first proposed the idea.

Vivi felt Heejin come to stand beside her at the fountain. There was a respectable distance between them for two people who knew nothing about the other.

The sincerity of it tempted the glance that Vivi threw in the girl’s direction.

“Is that where you have been?” Vivi observed the way Heejin startled out of her own thoughts, as if suddenly being pulled from a still bath of water and resurfaced. She looked questioningly back at her, as if she had completely forgotten what they had been talking about previously.

Feeling her eyes drawn back to their rippling reflection, Vivi’s eyes met the stranger’s mirrored back up at her.

“Your dress.” Her thumb danced along the grooves of the car keys, feeling the now dried blood flaking off underneath the pressure. “It’s beautiful. I wore one similar a couple of years ago while in my hometown – it was bright white and made of vicuna fabric and was absolutely made for the purpose of parting.” It had been more than a ‘couple of years’, though she didn’t really want to tell Heejin that. “I hated it with a passion. I burned it the moment it was off my body.”

Beside her, she heard the quick heartbeat chasing after her muttered words. To her credit, Heejin kept the stoic expression on her face as she continued to look at their figures standing side by side.

No one had come out of what had happened without a loss pinned to their backs. Everyone had lost something important to them.

Short breaths disturbed the small peace that the fountain had created for them.

Vivi understood every inhale and exhale.

“They want me to represent my mother.” Heejin’s voice was deep, and hoarse with the emotions she was restraining all grating on her throat at once. Vivi said nothing. She waited quietly by her side. “She’s been under a coma since she was hospitalized and didn’t wake up when I visited her. The family lawyer said something about one of her wishes being that I assume her position in the party she was supporting if something ever happened to her, and I guess this is what she was expecting to happen all along.”

Curiosity sparked within Vivi.

Perhaps it was cruel and slightly insensitive to have the first thing coming into her mind the fact that Heejin accepting that position meaning sanguisuges may have a chance at not becoming enemies of the state. But the events of that morning were still haunting her relentlessly, and this was the perfect opportunity to protect those she loved.

But it seemed like Heejin abhorred the idea of doing such a thing.

“The man who approached me at the funeral – he was a close friend of theirs.” Heejin flew through the sentence, not bothering to ponder on what exactly the words symbolized. “He gave me an offer that he promised would ‘give me power’, but- the more that I think about it-“

Vivi hummed when she saw the hatred in Heejin’s eyes. There was approval ticking inside of her as she watched the girl become disgusted by such thoughts. Perhaps Hyunjin hadn’t been too stupid when she said she trusted her after everything.

“I have never wanted to do what they did.” Defeatedly, Heejin let her shoulders drop.

Between all her words, Vivi could pick out exactly what she was trying to say. The remorse that adhered to her rough voice and self-hatred that crushed the small flickering fighting spirit that had previously been a roaring fire. What could be a roaring fire. Being alive for around three-hundred-years meant that Vivi had learnt how to read people for her own well-being.

Vivi could see herself moving past Heejin’s past mistakes – which she evidently felt repentance for.

“Would you like me to help you burn your dress?” Vivi met Heejin’s unforeseen calm gaze.

If they both played their cards right…

A fire sparked to life within Heejin, and the girl turned to face her in acceptance. “I would love that.”

Together, they could become a dangerous team.

-

Hyejoo stared steadily back at Olivia.

Tall arsenals of trees towered over them, the shadow casting a cool blue hue over the rich green of the forests they were always encased in. Olivia’s headspace had always been a labyrinth of thick trees with their evergreen leaves creating an almost monochromatic tone that felt strangely peaceful to Hyejoo. After a while of spending time in it, it became less of a labyrinth and more of a network of life that made up the deity’s mind.

Except the usually green leaves were beginning to darken and wilt, which was what usually happened whenever Olivia’s mood plummeted. Hyejoo knew that the deity absolutely hated when the trees began to reflect her mood since it evened the playing field between the two of them.

Though that thought process had begun to dwindle down the more time the two of them spent together. Surprisingly, Olivia was the only living thing that Hyejoo had managed not to grow a strong dislike towards in her life.

“I still think that it was just a bait,” Hyejoo said from where she was sat on the makeshift throne of leaves that Olivia had crafted for their sessions. “There’s no guarantee that that man had any connection to Yves, and his whole plan was a red flag from miles away. I don’t think trusting someone so psychotic would get us any closer to your friend.”

Olivia bristled from where she lay comfortably against mountain of flowers that bloomed a curious black. “That was the closest we’ve ever gotten to someone who even knew who Yves is.”

The deity had been in a bad mood ever since Hyejoo had completely shut her out during the altercation at that weird science building. She hadn’t stopped telling Hyejoo to switch sides during the whole thing, and eventually Hyejoo had to cut the connection between them since it skewed her concentration.

“That ‘fake’ that we spent weeks chasing was a dead end, and you agreed that it was my turn to find us another lead.” The flora around Olivia continued to darken as the deity’s mood worsened. Hyejoo was very much aware of the fact that letting her own anger get to her would only make matters worse (had let that happen many times before, before they both realised that their arguments were having side effects on Hyejoo’s physical health). “And that was the lead that I was going to choose.”

It was in moments like these where Hyejoo couldn’t help but scorn at how childish the immortal was.

“The childish one is you!” Olivia snapped, pushing herself up from the dying flowers beneath where she had shoved her hand. There was darkness oozing from her body. “Your diminutive age has nothing on the years of my life.”

“I get it, you’re a hag.” Hyejoo rolled her eyes as she sat further back against her throne, becoming more irritated the more they remained on this topic.

She felt her mind threatening to slip from Olivia’s headspace as her emotions wavered, her concentration too unsteady to hold herself in there. It seemed as though Olivia felt the connection glimmer for a moment because the deity completely stopped from where she was about to threateningly shoot an energy blast at her. The two of them quickly became immobile, staring at one another as they waited to see whether Hyejoo would be able to hold herself there.

When nothing happened, Hyejoo relaxed in her seat, ignoring the way that Olivia mimicked her almost perfectly. It felt as though she were her twin, mirroring her habits better than she knew herself.

Hyejoo chewed on her lip as she thought back to the man who had said that he knew how to get them to Yves.

Olivia had showed her the memories that she had of Yves, and it wasn’t like the latter was someone who would make herself known to such an unstable man. In fact, from what she remembered of Olivia’s memories, Yves had always been fonder of more feminine figures than she had of the masculine entities that wandered the higher plain. It had been that blood sucker woman who had tempted her to leave the higher plain to get to know the lower plains.

At least that’s how Olivia had put it.

So yeah, there was no way that Hyejoo believed that man had connections to someone as elusive as Yves.

From opposite her, Olivia let out a quiet groan. “But there has to be a reason why Gowon decided to follow him.” The deity stared up at the leaves which were beginning to convert back to their original color. “Even if he was a psychopath…”

At the name, Hyejoo couldn’t help but grimace slightly. “If you had just said that this was about your girlfriend from the beginning, I think we would have been able to understand each other a little better.”

Olivia had refused to disclose any information about Gowon. In fact, if it had been up to the deity, Hyejoo wouldn’t even know the name of the other deity. But after memories had began to ooze into her dreams when Olivia accidentally let down her guard too much, Hyejoo had become very much acquainted with what exactly Gowon had been to the other. And as someone who despised relationships – always cringed at them whenever she saw public displays of affection when she was just trying to catch her Pokémon – she wasn’t particularly supportive of the whole thing.

“She’s not my ‘girlfriend’.” Olivia didn’t sound annoyed by her jab, but Hyejoo observed the way the leaves around them morphed into a deeper shade of blue at the melancholy the deity was feeling.

(‘Girlfriend’ and ‘boyfriend’ was a term which the deity had first been unfamiliar with when she inhabited Hyejoo’s body, considering that the vessel herself had no memories nor recollection of ever being in a relationship. It was something that Hyejoo had had to demonstrate through marathons of cheesy romance movies. Which she had despised.)

“What’s her deal, anyway?” Hyejoo thought back to the small blonde she had hurtled against several walls, only for the favor to be returned to her in the same manner. “She really seemed like she wanted to kill you.”

Olivia made a facial expression that was far too close to a pout – stop making my face do that, Hyejoo thought – and the flora around her drooped in unison. “I think she was mad I didn’t agree with her.”

Scoffing, Hyejoo kicked her legs over the armrest of her throne and leaned back against the other. “That’s stupid. You’re your own person.” Slivers of light fell through gaps in the leaves, though the temperature of the forest remained the same cool atmosphere that Hyejoo always enjoyed. “Just because you don’t agree with her it doesn’t mean that she has to kill you.”

“Yeah but,” a large leaf grew where a particularly annoying part of light was blinding Hyejoo’s eyes, creating an umbrella for her, “we always agreed on the same things.”

“Not your fault that she was obviously wrong with that one.” Hyejoo blissfully closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy the way the throne’s leaves cushioned against her comfortably. “You shouldn’t have to go out of your way to agree with her just because you have a fat crush on her. If you’re right, you’re right. You don’t need anyone else.”

It had worked for Hyejoo her whole life.

Olivia hummed pensively to herself.

When she thought that the deity was about to respond, she felt herself suddenly being thrust out of the headspace.

Feeling the edges of her mind begin to numb with white before her entire brain tickled inside her skull, Hyejoo prepared to tense her body in case she was in trouble. It wouldn’t be the first time that she had been pulled out of her meditative state to be faced with someone who wanted to hurt her. (After the first couple of times, she and Olivia had agreed that the deity would be the one to pull her out so that they both had time to prepare.)

As her mind was placed back in its rightful place, Hyejoo felt the beads of sweat that were trickling uncomfortably down her back in the warm heat of the sun. It wasn’t anything like the cool temperatures she had been feeling in Olivia’s headspace, and the shock was dire.

Quickly opening her eyes, protected with Olivia’s vision, Hyejoo scanned the secluded area of the garden she had been sat in. It had been the closest thing that she found to Olivia’s headspace in the large estate.

Taking note of the crunch of stones under a weight, Hyejoo quickly stood from where she had been sat cross-legged.

She was about to blast energy at whoever it was that was sneaking up on her, until she saw the wide eyes and startled expression on a familiar face. The black hair framing the shocked features were a stark contrast to the blonde counterpart that had possessed her days ago, and it seemed like even the way she carried herself was completely different.

From somewhere in Olivia’s direction, there was a rush of excitement that sent adrenaline coursing through Hyejoo’s veins.

What the fuck, Olivia, can you not?

The sharp pinch where her neck met her skull was all she got as a response.

“W-woah…” The dark-haired girl raised her hands beside her head, her fingers trembling slightly in what Hyejoo presumed was fear. “I’m not gonna… I’m just here to…”

Hyejoo narrowed her eyes slightly in annoyance. She had been having the time of her life lounging in the cold headspace instead of the fiery inferno that was the hot summer of that year, and she had been rudely interrupted by a bumbling fool. And now the perpetrator couldn’t even get a word out.

“Uh…” Gowon’s vessel (Hyejoo had forgotten her name again) nervously pushed her hair behind her ear.

The bright flash of light directed in Hyejoo’s face caused Hyejoo to startle and defensively move into the girl’s space, seizing her wrist from where the shining had sourced. Memories had triggered inside her head of the fight that she had had to endure only several days ago, and her first instinct was to attack the one who she had been fighting for her life.

It seemed like the girl shrank even further in on herself, leaning away from her and trying to remain at an arms-length always.

Hyejoo glared at the metallic wrist band that sat snugly on the girl’s thin wrists. She remembered how the day before her, and that scientist woman had been messing around with some nerdy looking equipment. Yeojin (that little brat had gotten her into this whole mess in the first place) had wanted to go see what her sister was doing and had dragged her along to the impromptu science lesson. Yeojin’s sister had been holding some metallic bracelets, and she supposed that it was what the girl was wearing now.

Hug her.

To say that Hyejoo startled at the sudden force that had taken over her body was an understatement. Next thing she knew she had her arms wrapped around the smaller girl’s weak frame and was pressing against her body in all her sweaty glory. She felt herself tightly holding the girl against her, their limbs meshing together in an awkward manner that made her cringe to the point where she wanted to proceed to jump off the nearest ledge.

She had to admit that the other girl’s body temperature was almost unnaturally cold, the cool press of her hand against her too hot chest nearly relaxing if Hyejoo didn’t detest affection.

Which was what Olivia had just possessed her body to do.

Pushing the small girl away from her, Hyejoo tugged at the shirt that was sticking to her skin and tried gathering herself.

Her face felt too red and her heart was constricting too anxiously in her chest for her to pull through with this hellish interaction. “Can you fuck off?” Hyejoo felt herself warm up even more when her voice cracked halfway through the sentence, the pitch too high to even be considered intimidating.

It seemed like the tiny feeble girl herself was more confused than anything, because she just stared at her with her blushed face instead of getting as far away from her as she could.

Seeing as the other girl wasn’t going to do anything, Hyejoo did the next best thing she could.

Almost as if she felt sorry for forcing her to live through that momentary hell, Olivia transported her as far away from that small nuisance as she could muster.

It was in the safety of her own room where Hyejoo let herself collapse against the comfort of her mattress laying haggardly on the floor.

“I will fucking murder you.” She glared at the reflection of the filthy mirror staring back at her with an almost repentant expression.

Olivia was frowning almost as if she were sorry, but Hyejoo could see the way the tiniest movement at the corners of her mouth tugged upward. And it was her face that the deity was wearing so of course she would notice the way that the other was not at all remorseful for what she had done.

Turning away from the mirror, Hyejoo gathered her bedsheets against her chest and curled in on herself. “I hate you.”


	31. thirty-one

Her knuckles had become too sore for her to continue. Hyunjin let herself stagger backwards and away from the battered punching bag, finally feeling the numbness in her legs.

After familiarising herself with the sensation, the pleasant paralysis felt surprisingly welcoming in her body. Heejin had always called her an exercise buff and poked fun at her for the way her muscles had been more defined than that of an average girl at. Not like Heejin’s hands didn’t naturally gravitate to her arms or anything. But these past couple of months there had been near-death situations being thrown at her back-to-back – so much so that Hyunjin had found herself missing the torture that was track club. It was an easy way to overwhelm her senses. To direct all of her anger and frustrations at an inanimate object instead of the people around her.

Legs buckling underneath her like a new-born lamb, Hyunjin allowed herself to collapse against the mat. Her hands rubbed at the still healing bones of her knee where her leg had been previously broken. The fabric of the knee support felt rough underneath the pad of her thumb, though she found it easier to bring herself back down to earth. Had she still been human, she would probably had been hospitalised due to the seriousness of the injury.

Except she was a sanguisuge and her body regenerated at an unnatural pace, so she found that she could stand on her legs in a matter of several days.

(Heejin still shot her uneasy glances whenever she found her exercising her leg muscles, saying that she was pushing herself too hard and that she should let it rest. Hyunjin always gave into the urge to kiss her to get her to be quiet.)

She took a sip of the blood inside the metallic canister, feeling the life returning to her body slowly as she did so.

Her eyes wandered the small exercise room with all the equipment expertly decked out. She always found herself wondering if Jungeun liked to exercise herself, often letting her thoughts wander to what part of the make-shift gym was her favorite. That was until they eventually diverted into fury and rage and she was cursing out the demon in her mind for failing to protect Jinsoul. And then ultimately Hyunjin would return to the punching bag and continue to beat the life out of it until the feeling to kill someone was gone.

It was when she felt those emotions that she didn’t know what to do with herself.

At night, she awoke from her sleep with images of those men she had killed in her cell in a fit of anger – always wiping her hands fervently at the white covers of her bed. Whatever she did, she could always still see the dark substance binding to the crevices of her skin, clinging to her fingernails so that she’d always be tempted to tear them right off. The clip of the life being snuffed out of the man’s eyes repeated over and over again in her sleep until his features were engraved into the back of her eyelids. And then she was shooting up from her sleep desperately trying to calm herself down.

She stumbled blindly through her panic. Her usually nocturnal vision was impaired by the black spots created by her unsteady breathing, and her smell was heavily damaged by the reminiscent scent of blood.

Somehow, through her plight, she reached the familiar doorway just across the hallway. Over these past couple of difficult night, she had managed to memorise the quickest path to the nearest source of comfort. Even through the storm of tears streaming down her face and her heaving chest, she was able to lift her hand and knock on the door. And like the previous nights, she patiently waited with her forehead resting against the hard wood for a response to come.

Despite it being the middle of the night, Heejin was still able to hear her through her own slumber (or maybe she hadn’t been asleep at all) and come to her rescue. She knew that because the door was opening slowly, and large doe eyes encumbered with sleep were peering up at her warily.

“Hyun,” Heejin greeted in a fit of mumbles, her hands instantly reaching to hold her shaking ones.

Their bodies would gravitate to one another easily, because the laws of nature commanded it so. Heejin’s arms wrapped around her waist not too tightly, weak from having recently been ripped from their sleep, but just strong enough to apply pressure on her ribs. Like she was letting her know that she had all the freedom in the world to say it was too much and retreat back to her room, but if she wanted her then she was there. With this comfort, Hyunjin’s tears would slow and taper off into small, tired sighs.

At one point, Heejin fell asleep pressed up against her. Her mouth was ajar against her shoulder as warm puffs heated her skin, followed by drool wetting the fabric of Hyunjin’s pyjamas since they had stood there so long that Heejin had truly fallen asleep. Hyunjin’s mind was still tumbling in on itself, trying to wrap her head around what was reality and what was a figment of her unconsciousness. Having Heejin in her arms, their chests and thighs pressed together warmly, provided a fixed direction. Though it wasn’t like Hyunjin was bothered, because if Heejin’s body was relaxed against hers then naturally she would do the same to make sure she was comfortable.

When Hyunjin herself began to drift off, their balance causing them to stumble into the doorway, Heejin’s body jumped against hers.

She craned her neck backwards to look up at her through her eyelashes which cast cool shadows across her eyes. Hyunjin let herself be enamoured by the unguarded expression on Heejin’s face, not even noticing that the latter had leaned in closer to press their lips together.

Sighing in content, Hyunjin sank herself into the kiss.

It didn’t matter that her heart was skipping in a slow dance between her ribcage, because like always all she could really focus on was the tightening of a hand on whatever piece of fabric she was wearing. This would be followed by fingers curling into the hairs at the base of her skull, pulling softly in a gentle massage. And whatever it was that Heejin would do with her tongue always flustered Hyunjin out of her stupor and she would be pulling away to bury her burning face into her shoulder.

Accepting this change gracefully, Heejin chuckled lowly under her breath in amusement, adjusting so that her arms would comfortably hook around Hyunjin. “Bunnies flying in the room.” Heejin muttered in the crook of her neck, eyelashes tickling the bare skin there.

Breathing a small huff of clean air, Hyunjin nuzzled the side of her head tenderly and softly grabbed her biceps where Heejin was hugging her loosely. “We can fly sometime.”

“Mm-yeah?”

Hyunjin nodded, letting her lips fall onto whatever surface of Heejin would be nearest. That night it was the shell of her ear, which sent a faint rush of blood coursing through the girl’s body. It made a small smile form on Hyunjin’s face despite the wetness on her cheeks, though she supposed that was exactly the reason why she had sought out Heejin’s presence in the first place.

They waddled together towards the aftermath of Heejin’s slumber, which usually involved sheets strewn messily on the large mattress with pillows scattered on the floor. By accident, Hyunjin found herself kicking a neglected one across the floor, though she was far too tired to do anything about it.

After sinking into Heejin’s presence, sleep came easier. The nightmares still haunted her – the both of them – but she would ground herself faster than if she were by herself.

Without fail, Hyunjin would find herself at Heejin’s sight by the end of the night. They had talked about taking their relationship slowly, but it was inevitable for Hyunjin.

Until it had been the day that Heejin had had to go see her mother in hospital, and when Hyunjin had urgently wandered into her room and found only an empty bed, she realized that relying so heavily on the other girl wouldn’t do either of them any good.

Heejin had her own grief that she was coping with.

It wasn’t fair if Hyunjin was so selfishly leaning on her the whole time.

She was being too much of a burden.

Instead, Hyunjin sought refuge in the comfort of straining her body through exercise. The consistent sound of her hands hitting against the punching bag would be her lullaby until she collapsed from exhaustion. The pleasant numbness in her legs after doing as many leg presses as her body would allow her was the heavy blanket which she slept under. The dimming vision after doing so many pull-ups would be what would mimic the way one would close their eyes and drift off into unconsciousness.

All she could feel was chaos.

At first, she was infuriated with anyone and anything that would come near her – that included Heejin even though she had done nothing to trigger her.

Hyunjin had told her to get away from her when she had come to her senses after one serious outburst. That all she was doing was taking out her emotions on her and that was unfair on her behalf. Heejin had tried her best to resist the rift that Hyunjin was putting between them, but Hyunjin had been so adamant that in the end all she could do was allow the both to have the space that they needed to properly grieve.

And it had felt horribly lonely whenever Hyunjin would search to reach out for Heejin’s hand, only to pull back once she reminded herself of what those hands had done.

But Hyunjin was doing her best to cope.

Doing her best with coming to terms with the fact that Jinsoul was dead.

Hyunjin missed her.

Missed her so much that sometimes she would feel like she couldn’t move from wherever her body had decided to collapse.

Sometimes she would pinch at her neck where the scar of the bite that Jinsoul had made nearly two months ago to remind herself that the blonde had existed in the first place. That she hadn’t just been a figment of her imagination.

When Vivi had offered to take her to the home in the mountains, Hyunjin had agreed. But she hadn’t realized the difficulty of having to step through the threshold of that building when it no longer held the reason why she referred to it as ‘home’ in the first place.

And Vivi had offered to take her back to her biological parents – to live with them because she had all the freedom to do so.

There was no vampire organisation that would enforce laws stating that a sanguisuge should not be able to interact with their human biological family once turned. The government was in shambles and too much of a mess to even try to strike up a deal with the surviving sanguisuges. Even after everything, Hyunjin loved them in a way that she would never love anyone else. As a daughter, she should very much want to return to her parents and at least see them one more time.

But then Hyunjin was reminded of the man she had killed with a single hand. All the pain and suffering she had inflicted. So she decided that returning to people that had known a completely different version of her would be selfish of her.

She wasn’t their daughter anymore.

So Vivi had sat in a café with them both, only a table with their usual morning coffee orders separating them and a sanguisuge. Hyunjin had watched from afar at a considerably safe distance where she could still hear conversation. She had listened as Vivi told them a story about their daughter doing well at her internship, and how the woman that Hyunjin’s mother had met had taken good care of Hyunjin. Then Vivi began to work her sanguisuge charm, something that Hyunjin had never really seen in action before, and slowly but surely she could see how the people she had once called parents became stranger. After Vivi had gone through the process of retracing their memories – going through each instance in the past eighteen years of their lives to alter what they remembered of Hyunjin and changing it – Vivi had let the two of them sit there and try to remember why they had been there in the first place.

At first Hyunjin hadn’t known how to feel.

Sadness that she had practically erased herself from their memories? That they would never even remember that they had once had a daughter they had claimed to love?

Happiness that she was finally free from their constantly crushing expectations? She had always complained that all they had ever wanted from her were good grades and a career that would get her wealth. Now, they would never even look at her on the street.

Pain clawed at Hyunjin’s chest, the back of her eyes prickling.

Her mind instantly cleared once she returned to her routine.

The best thing she could do was try to numb whatever this cruel feeling was.

Hyunjin placed the canister back where it had been near the duffel bag she used as a pillow to sleep on and pulled herself up from the floor with the help of the bench beside her.

As if flowing swiftly, Hyunjin unleashed almost choreographed attacks on the punching bag. She followed the shadow cast on the material from the warm lights on the ceiling, dancing around it in synchronisation.

It was better than having to actually think about anything.

“What has that poor thing done to deserve this?”

The voice startled her out of her trance, pulling her murderous gaze towards the entrance to the gym. In her distraction, the momentum of the swinging bag swung back into her face and sent her stumbling backwards during her moment of weakness.

A loud laugh rang throughout the space as Hyunjin rubbed at her cheek. It was more disorientating than the actual attack from the bag itself.

“At least it managed to get revenge,” Haseul grinned, moving carefully down the dip of the stairs and onto where the mats were. She was dressed in her casual clothing, the lab coat no longer draped on her body. Hyunjin had begun to think that the thing was a second skin with how much the woman wore it. Though her glasses continued to be a part of her ensemble in spite of its partner in crime being nowhere in sight.

“Hey.” Hyunjin mumbled, reaching out to steady the distracting swing beside her.

The last time she had talked to Haseul, it had been when she had burst out in frustration and had said some pretty horrible things to her. Not that the smaller woman went down without a fight, returning the comments with equal vice. But still, it didn’t mean that the way that Hyunjin had behaved towards her was any more acceptable.

So it was no wonder that she was slightly surprised that the woman had approached her first when the argument had been so evidently her fault.

“You don’t stop, huh?” Haseul pointed towards the blood-stained white leather, her eyes curiously glancing to Hyunjin’s ripped knuckles. “Yeojin said that every time she comes by she always sees you doing something or other.”

Hyunjin looked away from her kind eyes. She hadn’t been a very good role-model to the younger girl by talking back so rudely to her older sister.

“Can’t say I appreciate you inspiring that little imp to suddenly start doing press-ups everywhere and anywhere.” Haseul bumped their shoulders together slightly, teasingly searching her eyes out. There was that welcoming feeling to her that always managed to tear down whatever defences Hyunjin had built up for herself. Even after everything she had said to her.

“I’m sorry.” Hyunjin finally mumbled.

“No, no, I think that she needs it.” Haseul moved to the bench where the duffel bag sat beside. Gracefully, she spun on her heel and slumped down with less elegance than she had done so seconds earlier. “If she’s going to be hanging around that Hyejoo girl, she might need to toughen herself up a little more.”

Hyunjin didn’t try to correct her by saying that she was sorry for something else entirely. Instead, she drifted towards where she was sat and slid onto the bench beside her. They sat in peaceful quiet, Hyunjin having learnt how to block out the unnecessary sounds that had swarmed her senses during her periods of stress. It wasn’t anything in comparison to having Jinsoul sitting close to her, at least one of their limbs touching as they did so as if they communicated solely through that. But it was similar enough that the pain was almost not as prominent as it was before. In fact, Hyunjin was slightly grateful that her presence didn’t provide the same thing that Jinsoul’s had, because she wouldn’t have known what to do with herself if all Haseul reminded her of was another person.

Apparently, Haseul’s maternal instincts eventually gave way to the sight of Hyunjin’s raw knuckles because she was suddenly fishing through the first aid kit stashed on the side of the duffel bag. Or perhaps it was her doctor-instincts kicking in.

“I don’t know how you can ruin your hands like that,” she mumbled more to herself than to Hyunjin.

“It heals really quickly.” Hyunjin tried moving them away from Haseul’s snatching fingers. She had learnt to like the sting of the air dancing across the open flesh on her knuckles, though she accepted that it wasn’t the best way to let them heal. The woman was far too insistent on Hyunjin’s weakened state, making it an easy win for her. “These injuries don’t really matter.”

Scoffing loudly, Haseul ducked her head so that she could take a closer look at the wounds. “Like hell they don’t,” she was ripping out a cotton swab before Hyunjin could do anything about it while simultaneously pulling at the alcohol bottle. Fluidly, she tipped the contents out with a single hand onto the swab. Almost as if she had done this many times before. “You can’t go around hurting yourself like this.” Without looking up from where she was holding the bottle and pressing cotton swab to Hyunjin’s knuckles with one hand, Haseul moved her other to almost shove against her chest. “No matter how much this hurts.”

Hyunjin blinked at Haseul.

She felt the warmth seeping into the skin on her chest, slightly revealed by the loose shirt clinging to her sweaty form. It felt like Haseul was trying to push her backwards, though at the same time it was as if she were pulling her forward.

Admittedly alarmed, Hyunjin gaped at Haseul’s side profile.

The woman had tried to get her to talk about how she had felt about Jinsoul’s death - (“Fucking fantastic! I love it that she’s not fucking here anymore, Haseul!”) – had tried to sympathise with her by telling her that she wasn’t the only one who felt the loss left behind by her passing – (“Yeah because remembering just how much she hated your guts makes everything suddenly okay. Like Vivi is acting like nothing happened even though she was her best friend. Like we’re just letting a traitor like Yerim walk around like she’s innocent when she’s the one who caused all of this. Like Jungeun hasn’t gone fucking crazy and is keeping her corpse in the basement!”) - but in all her anger it had only made Hyunjin spout venom in the direction of whoever was closest.

At the time it had been Haseul. And there was a bitter feeling sitting on Hyunjin’s shoulders when she ran back through the words she had hissed so spitefully.

“Unnie, I’m so sorry.” Hyunjin twisted their hands so that her larger one cradled the small fingers of the older woman. Her throat was closing like a dam prepared to hold back all its reservoir, but the guilt that had been riding through her was far too strong to allow such barrier to stop her. “What I said was uncalled for and you didn’t deserve any of it. You must have been hurting too, and for me to invalidate that was wrong – it was horrible of me to do.”

Squeezing the hand in hers impossibly tighter, Hyunjin felt her posture weakening. Involuntarily, she raised their hands to her forehead as she leaned down. She felt drained, abruptly.

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice shook unsteadily against the four walls of the gym. “I’m so sorry, Unnie…”

Wordlessly, Haseul shuffled closer to where she was crouched. The familiar weight of her arms wrapping around her suddenly small frame sent her back to times where those arms had belonged to someone else entirely. And all Hyunjin could do was lean her weight against the support provided for her.

-

Yeojin observed from afar.

Despite her inability to control her excitement once it crowded all her senses, along with the influx of the volume of her voice, she more often than not found herself observing things from afar.

From this habit, she discovered that Haseul had a habit of pushing her glasses up with the back of her hand since her fingers were always coated with something or other, then followed by the tucking of hair behind the ear that left a streak of muck on her face. It was up to Yeojin to bounce over to her with a tissue for her oblivious sister to wipe it off. This would usually be followed by Haseul telling her to take care of herself, because the obvious pen marks on her face from school were much worse than whatever she had done to herself.

Yeojin also found herself observing her favorite ‘unnie’. (That’s right, Haseul could bite her if she had anything to say about it.) Vivi had a habit of making a disgusted facial expression whenever something that was too displeasing for her was displayed in front of her. Her nose would scrunch in revulsion, her mouth curling into a near sneer and her eyes narrowing as she glared with disdain at the object of her horrors. Often it would be one of Yeojin’s latest inventions with valuable equipment found on her way home. Though rather than being intimidated by it, Yeojin looked for other ways to make that amusing expression come out more.

Lately, she had noticed that Hyunjin would drown out her emotions by doing other things to distract her – mostly beating the crap out of that punching bag, which Yeojin thought was the most badass thing she had ever seen.

But her most recent project was the new friend she had made at school. (The only friend, but she didn’t really want to think about that.)

They had met when Hyejoo had walked in on a… sticky situation and hadn’t hesitated to jump in to rescue her from it. Yeojin had undoubtedly been on the verge of tears because of it, but it wasn’t something that she would ever repeat aloud if anyone were to ask. (She hoped that vampires couldn’t read minds along with all the other cool powers that they had, because then her whole gig would be blown away.) Ever since that day, she had noticed that the older girl was a loner like her. So, she made sure to be her friend since she must have been feeling lonely, too.

And even though Hyejoo liked to act like she was annoyed by her, Yeojin knew that it was just her way of showing affection.

(At least she hoped that being almost killed by a blast of energy was Hyejoo’s way of saying ‘yes, I would love to be your friend’. Haseul didn’t need to know that that was how Yeojin discovered Hyejoo’s powers in the first place. She knew her older sister would kill both her and her new friend simultaneously.)

Now that they had gathered together in the large dining hall to eat dinner and Yeojin had eaten all her food in record time, she could observe what on earth it was that her friend was doing from across her.

Yeojin watched as the knuckles on Hyejoo’s hand whitened under the pressure of her grip. Her eyes were uncharacteristically wide (Yeojin had once asked her if she was always tired because Hyejoo had a habit of letting her eyelids hood over half of her eyes – she had never asked again after being positively ‘reprimanded’ for it) and her jaw was clenched so tight that she could see the muscles dancing under her skin. Her triangle mouth was always prominent when she made those kinds of faces.

She looked like she was constipated or something.

Becoming slightly concerned, Yeojin glanced down the table to where Vivi, Haseul, Hyunjin and Heejin were all lost in their own conversation.

Kicking to where she thought was Hyejoo’s leg, Yeojin intently watched her friend and waited for a reaction.

“Ow!” Hyunjin discretely looked away from her conversation to settle Yeojin with the dirtiest stare the younger girl had ever had the luck to see. “What the hell, Yeojin?”

Grimacing sheepishly, Yeojin raised a hand to shield her mouth from the other girls and mouthed a ‘sorry’.

Alright, now to get things back on track.

Yeojin glanced back to where Hyejoo was still intently glaring at her plate of food. Usually the older girl would have wolfed it down in mere seconds (once Yeojin had had to bring in extra food just so she herself had lunch to eat, what with the habit the girl had of stealing other people’s meals). But it seemed as if it was sitting there untouched, like the whole dish just distasted her and maybe she had an allergy for the clams that were in the soup.

It was Vivi’s cooking! What kind of fool could deny Vivi’s cooking?

That fool apparently seemed to be Hyejoo, because all she was doing was clenching and unclenching her hands around her chopsticks. She looked like a freaking caveman with the way she was holding the things.

Beside Yeojin sat Yerim. Vivi had told her that the girl had been a double-agent the whole time and had betrayed them, but she was still Jinsoul’s child (Yeojin didn’t really know what Vivi had called it, but she supposed that the relationship was something of that nature with the way that Vivi spoke about it) so they had to forgive and forget. Haseul had insisted that she put as much distance between them whenever she saw her wandering around the mansion, but Yeojin had seen her looking so lonely that she just had to talk to her.

And sure, Yerim was a little dark sometimes with the things that she said (she once told Yeojin that life as an immortal was like living with death’s cold, dead hands around your neck waiting for the day one decided to quit playing house for their chance, which was pretty cool) but sometimes they’d be doing whatever they had to to entertain themselves and she’d be really fun. Like, she would just light up like a light.

It was awesome.

Anyway, Yerim spared Yeojin a glance from where she was playing with her food with a small frown. ‘What are you doing?’

Yeojin did her best to discretely point with her eyes in Hyejoo’s direction, moving them slightly between Yerim and the seemingly traumatised girl’s general direction. ‘Look at Hyejoo-unnie, is something wrong with her?’

Yerim put her chopsticks down silently against the table (like a ninja – Yerim was always really quiet even when she didn’t mean to) and deepened her frown. She spared a glance where Yeojin had signalled, but instead looked at Chaewon beside Hyejoo. ‘Chaewon-unnie?’

Shaking her head, Yeojin jutted her chin harder towards Hyejoo. ‘No! Hyejoo-unnie.’

When Yerim turned her head to look at Hyejoo with absolutely no discretion, Yeojin felt her nerves kick up a storm inside her.

Slapping her arm, Yeojin gathered Yerim’s attention again. She widened her eyes dramatically with an expression that said ‘what the hell? Do you not know how to be lowkey?’

As if alerted by the cold sound of the smack Yeojin had made on Yerim’s forearm, Haseul’s voice interrupted the silent game of charades that they were having. “Yeojin, go get seconds if you’re still hungry.” There was a look in her sister’s eyes that told her she wasn’t up for being messed with. The disapproval was clear enough on her face that even Yerim beside her noticed it and immediately shrunk in on herself. It looked like her friend wanted to disappear into her seat, which was the complete opposite of whenever they would have fun and mess around. Honestly, it felt wrong.

Feeling slightly irritated, Yeojin met her older sister’s serious glare. She knew exactly what she was trying to do by sending her to the kitchen.

“You need to be eating more.”

“That’s not what you said when I ate your chips,” Yeojin growled under her breath as she pushed back from the table, making sure to scrape her chair loudly against the floor to make it clear just how annoyed she was.

Why did her sister always try to get in the way of everything? Yeojin understood that she was just trying to do what was best for her, but sometimes it felt like she was suffocating her.

She just wanted to make her own friends.

“I’ll come with you!” came a tiny voice from the other side of the table.

Yeojin looked up from where she had been gathering her bowl and chopsticks and saw Chaewon pushing herself hurriedly from the table. The poor girl stumbled slightly as the chair legs refused to slide smoothly against the floorboards, accidentally backing the piece of furniture against Hyejoo’s chair. Hilariously, Hyejoo jumped away from Chaewon like she was infected with some virus, bumping right into Hyunjin who had been watching the whole thing curiously. The two clashing girls looked at one another with apprehension and what seemed to be like exasperation, but it was quickly dispelled when Hyejoo ducked her head once more.

With a red face, Chaewon scrambled around the table and towards the kitchen, not even waiting to see if Yeojin was following.

Swapping amused glances with Yerim, Yeojin slowly let herself drift in the direction of the kitchen.

There she found Chaewon leaning heavily against the counter, her head bowed so low that her chin almost touched the center of her chest. Her black hair had been tied back in a ponytail so that it wouldn’t fall into the soup that they had been eating with the other side dishes. It only meant that Yeojin could see the way that the older girl’s face was aflame with embarrassment.

Moving to stand casually beside her, Yeojin leaned over Chaewon to investigate the cooking pot. “So what was that whole thing just now?”

Chaewon darted backwards, letting her pass in front of her with far too much panic in her movements. “Wh-what do you mean?”

Yeojin reached for her bowl, bringing it closer to the pot to fill it up with seconds of the delicious soup that Vivi had made. She was just glad that it hadn’t been Haseul to volunteer to prepare dinner. “Oh nothing,” she stuck her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on not spilling anything on the counter. (There had been too many times where Haseul had reprimanded her for accidentally spilling something or other.) “Just you’re acting like you have a huge crush on Hyejoo-unnie.”

A scandalised squeak came from behind her, but Yeojin resisted the temptation of looking behind her and seeing just what expression the older girl is pulling. (She needed to keep her cool if she wanted to get any information out of the shy girl.) “No I don’t!” Chaewon’s voice was already high enough. She always spoke like she was speaking in font of size seven. So hearing her now trying to defend herself was like listening to a dolphin. “She- and I-“

Turning with a little more pazaz than usual, Yeojin hit her with the best deadpan expression she could. (She was visualising Vivi’s ‘oh really’ expression.) “Look, I get that you like my best friend.” She continued speaking over whatever lies were coming from the girl’s mouth. “But if you wanna date her, then you’re going to have to step up your game. She’s like, way too cool for you-“

“Believe me, Hyejoo-ssi is the last person I would even think about.”

Now, Yeojin liked her fair share of crime dramas. She had stayed up many nights trying to find out whether it was the cheating husband who had done it to keep the victim quiet. After watching so many of them, it would be stupid not to consider herself an expert in deducing if Haseul was lying to her when she told her she would get her Switch back the next day or not. Or if Vivi assuring her that no one had touched her stash of snacks was a decoy to protect her annoying older sister.

So the way that Chaewon’s eyes darted around as she so ‘proudly’ proclaimed that sent off many alarms in Yeojin’s head.

“Right~” Yeojin smugly nodded at the older girl, sending her a wink for good measure. “You would never think of Son Hyejoo – ever - not in your right frame of mind.”

For a moment, Chaewon just looked at her with a hopeless expression. She squinted her eyes suspiciously at her before curling her arms around her waist as if to protect herself from Yeojin’s verbal attacks. “I wouldn’t!”

Yeojin pouted, feeling like she was losing a great opportunity for her friend. Hyejoo most definitely was thinking about Chaewon in some way, shape, or form. Yeojin had never seen her express anything more than apathy, mild annoyance and anger, so seeing her so flustered was certainly a hint that there was something in the works she didn’t know about. She knew that she would not be able to get any details out of her friend with how closed off she was with any living thing, so she tried to work her magic with Chaewon instead.

“So why are you two acting like there’s a fire between you two every time you’re around each other?” Yeojin had seen them interacting before, and with how Hyejoo would almost always go to say something to Chaewon before seeming to revert in on herself and send her her most withering glare, she just assumed it was Hyejoo’s way of expressing infatuation.

The older girl’s pale skin began to flourish with color. “There’s – there’s no fire…”

Oh. Development?

Dancing closer to Chaewon, Yeojin tried containing the grin that was threatening to break her so far tame expression. “But there’s definitely something, right?”

For a moment, Chaewon’s eyes glazed over like a mist had fallen on her. It was amusing to see the gears clicking away in the girl’s head from where Yeojin was standing on the outside, observing like the curious onlooker she was. Having finally realised that her hesitation was leading Yeojin to believe that she was right, Chaewon startled from her trance. “No! No, there’s nothing…”

Raising an eyebrow, Yeojin waited the older girl out.

“There is nothing,” Chaewon insisted, heat visibly climbing up her neck. “Hyejoo-ssi is just… weird.”

“Aha!” Pouncing on the chance, Yeojin’s grin widened. “So there was something after all.”

“That’s not-“ Chaewon tilted her head backwards and inhaled sharply through her nose. “It’s just that every time we’re even so much near each other, she’ll come over and just glare at me, and then say the meanest things. I never e-even- I don’t know what I did? Has she told you why she’s so mad at me?”

That definitely sounded like something Hyejoo would do. “She probably doesn’t know how to talk to you.” Yeojin mulled, trying to think back to that time when Yeojin had bought Hyejoo lunch to thank her for sticking up for her at school and the girl had replied by trying to stick a straw up her nose. (Hyejoo definitely had some issues that she needed to work through, but Yeojin had promised that she would be by her side every step of the way.) “And if you’re that bothered about it, it just means that you care.”

“I don’t.” Chaewon quickly said.

Yeojin’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “But do you?”

Frowning so hard that a crease formed between her eyebrows, Chaewon shook her red face. “I don’t – I don’t care what Hyejoo-ssi does, I just- I want her to leave me alone.”

“’Leave you alone’ or get closer to you?” Yeojin probed, knowingly nodding her head slowly at her.

“Leave me alone! She doesn’t like me and I don’t like her!”

“I mean…”

“I don’t!”

“But like…”

“I don’t like her, I like Hyunjin!” Chaewon exclaimed, her face redder than the color of the spicy soup.

… What?

Yeojin stared blankly at her.

Coming to her senses, Chaewon seemed to realise what she had just admitted to. And immediately she burrowed her face into her hands and tried to hide herself in the nearest corner that she could find.

Yeojin thought back to Hyejoo’s reaction to Chaewon moving in closer to her and grimaced. If her best friend liked Chaewon, then she would have to prepare herself for being pushed into the sacred land of the friend-zone. Because it seemed like her crush’s heart belonged to another.

Hissing a breath between her bared teeth, Yeojin placed the bowl back on the counter. “Oof, that’s rough buddy.” She reached a tentative hand out, patting awkwardly at Chaewon’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure Hyunjin-unnie and Heejin-unnie are like… together forever – bonded ‘til the end of time – soulmates through lifetimes-“

“I get it.” Chaewon defeatedly sunk in on herself, her face still flaming red from the embarrassment. “I’ve hung out with them before.”

Yeojin made an even harsher grimace, pity showing evidently on her face. It wasn’t like she knew how to respond to such an awkward confession like that. She had never really caught feelings for anyone throughout her wise years of living (if the boys from k-pop groups didn’t count, that was) so she didn’t really know how it felt to be in Chaewon’s situation. But she had watched plenty of dramas on TV and vicariously lived the greatest romance story through her sister and Vivi, so she liked to consider herself a sound expert.

“Well, it appears to be like you’re the antagonist of a school drama.”

Chaewon seemed appalled at her conclusion, and Yeojin reprimanded herself for even saying something like that.

“But don’t worry,” she rushed to amend her mistake with the most reassuring smile on her face, “I’m sure that if you spend enough time with Hyejoo-unnie, you will learn to love her for who she is.” She squeezed the shoulder beneath her hand encouragingly, believing one-hundred percent in her words. “Even if she does try to kill you with her energy blasts.”

Chaewon stared at her for a little longer, almost as if considering whether to answer her statement or not. Instead, the older girl walked out of the kitchen without anything in her hands and the blush still sported proudly on her face.

Yeojin quickly scrambled to chase after her, grabbing both of their bowls. “Wait, Unnie, you forgot your bowl!”

-

Yerim toed the threshold of the room.

There was something familiar about the darkness that greeted her. These parts of the estate had never been very well lit due to being in the basement level, but they were familiar despite it. After all, demons had never really been very fond of sunlight like humans were.

She knew the passageways of this manor like she knew her own name. Had studied them inside out on days where she had had nothing better to do with her time, and had found some kind of comfort in the vastness of it all. Knew exactly how many bathrooms there were on each floor, and which had secret hallways that could be accessed through discrete buttons on their mirrors. Which bedrooms had held which guests back in a time where they were acquainted with enough people to have guests.

This was her home.

But in that moment, Yerim had never felt more like an outsider.

Jungeun’s room had always been decorated with a pleasant rouge – very reminiscent of the time where the Westerners had made themselves known in the country through their tastes of interior design. (She had met her fair share of Westerners over her time, though she couldn’t quite say she’d taken a liking to them.) Usually, the lamps clinging to the walls would be lit, displaying intricate golden patterns on the wallpapers with their yellowish light, but there had been none of that since they had returned seventeen days ago.

Not since Jungeun had begun testing out spells after spells.

There were still aftershocks of supernaturality making the air heavy from the latest one as Yerim stood in the doorway, unsure of herself.

She hadn’t felt such shocks since the time when she had almost died to the syndicate. (Which was a startling thought, since the syndicate weren’t a thing anymore.)

When Yerim dared to step into the room – just to see down its length to where she knew there was an open bath – she felt any air in her lungs physically stolen out of her.

She was so used to seeing another version of Jungeun – Kim Lip – so very poised in her posture and the utmost confidence oozing from every minute movement. The demon could have rivalled any other celebrity that Yerim had ever known and grown up with. She could have easily stood at the foot of a throne and made herself comfortable there, to be worshipped by nations and nations with the ruling dignity that naturally bewitched everyone who laid their eyes on her.

But now, staring at the cowered back of a stranger as she shakily wiped at her face, Yerim felt nothing but a swell of emotions that ripped everything she had out of her.

“Unnie…”

Jungeun jumped from where she was sat, quickly rubbing at her face. Yerim pretended she didn’t hear the sharp inhale, keeping her expression as blank as her self-control would allow.

The parchment held in her hand felt heavier than a piece of cloth should have.

“Come in,” came from the bottom of the steps, where a large bath dipped into the ground as if it were a small indoor pool.

Slowly, as if making her way into a lion’s den, Yerim soundlessly treaded towards where Jungeun was watching the body. It took everything in her to keep moving when she saw the lifeless form in the glowing body of water, reminding herself that she had already watched over her while the demon had unknowingly fallen unconscious in her fatigue. The closer she was, the more powerful the spell felt, tugging at her coordination and balance.

Yerim stood at Jungeun’s side, parchment clenched tight between her fingers.

Despite the lack of life, the figure still looked like Jinsoul. Her body remained the same, her skin still glowing even after all these days without a soul, her hair still so extravagantly blonde. Except at the roots where her scalp was, which were beginning to show black.

It was the only thing that gave Yerim hope that Jungeun’s miracle-searching could pay off even if the chances were near to zero.

She had heard what the other girls thought about Jungeun keeping Jinsoul’s body in the water – how it was worrying that a week had passed and still the demon had not let anyone suggest the mere idea of letting her go, or how it was borderline insane that they were keeping a corpse in the hopes that it would somehow resuscitate. Initially she had thought the same, but the more she watched over Jungeun while she carried out every spell in the books from their ancient library, the more she began to think that maybe Jungeun was onto something.

Yerim understood that Jinsoul’s body no longer had a soul – Jungeun admitted to that herself. But the idea that Jungeun had somehow managed to stagnate it between the planes before it could reach the middle plane was… wearying.

Still, she admitted that the state Jinsoul’s body was in was more akin to one of a comatose rather than death.

“Have you brought it?” Jungeun’s rough voice broke her out of her torpor.

Jolting, Yerim quickly slid the parchment into the demon’s asking hand.

Beneath her touch was cold, clammy skin (though she wasn’t too sure if the moisture was from the glowing water or from the perspiration caused by the effort of keeping Jinsoul’s soul tethered).

Naturally, worry filled Yerim. Jungeun’s condition had steadily been deteriorating. If she didn’t know any better, Yerim would have thought that the dead one was the former rather than the still blonde floating in the soft blue light.

When Jungeun swayed under the weight of her lethargy, not a thought crossed Yerim’s mind as she dropped to her knees to cradle her thin body against her chest. It felt very much like holding the weak new-born chick on the farm she grew up in. There was a very faint thrumming of a heartbeat, like little flutters of a finger, but the body lacked the same warmth that health and wellbeing provided.

She knew that the demon had to have been exhausted when she didn’t push her away with disgust.

Yerim’s heart clenched painfully in her chest as her fingers made their way down the familiar trek of Jungeun’s temple to behind her ear to the base of her neck in that calming manner the latter had always found sedating.

She hadn’t even realised there were tears forming streams on her cheeks until Jungeun let out a heavier puff of air that made her shake. Without making much movement, Yerim wiped at the evidence. It wasn’t like she was the one who was deserving of being in pain when she had partly been the cause for all of this.

“Yerim-ah…” The demon’s pronunciation was slurred. It was surprising that she wasn’t sleep-talking at this point. “I understand why you did it…”

Everything felt as if it had been submerged underwater. There was a rushing torrent in Yerim’s ears as if all of the sounds in the estate were suddenly coming to her – Haseul talking brightly in the empty study room, Hyunjin beating down relentlessly on the old punching bag they kept in the exercise room, Chaewon’s feathery laughter contrasting to Yeojin’s raucous one – it was all swirling around her. It picked her up and spun her around and all of a sudden, she was back at the foot of the large bath of water where Jinsoul’s vessel was laying calmly.

Jungeun’s hand had limply fallen into said water, her head lolling onto Yerim’s collarbone.

“Hey, are you awake?” Yerim craned her head around to check on her older sister’s face, her stomach coiling and winding over and over.

“…the water-“ Moisture soiled the bottom of Yerim’s trousers, her socks sticking uncomfortably to her feet as she hoisted Jungeun’s light body in her arms. “-healing…”

Understanding exactly what she was trying to say, Yerim carefully stood in the shallow bath, glaring at the glowing tiles with pent up frustration and determination. Jinsoul’s body remained floating almost weightlessly in the center of it, eerily serene despite the rush of panic within Yerim’s bones.

Carefully, Yerim lowered herself onto her knees, ignoring the cool touch of the water sliding up her thighs and wrapping around her hips. She felt Jungeun shiver in her arms in response, though she supposed she should be grateful for getting a reaction at all. Making sure that Jungeun was comfortable, she dipped the woman’s body further into the water, sliding her hand up to her head when her eyes became submerged underneath.

A faint glow emanated from where Jungeun’s body met the water in a similar way Jinsoul’s body had been doing.

Inhaling deeply, Jungeun fluttered her eyelids open. “I don’t have long.”

Yerim pursed her lips, blood leaving her mouth at the pressure.

“You have heard of the stories of Orpheus, right?”

Frowning, Yerim tried recalling where she had heard that name from. “You always had a strange fascination with Greek mythology…” Jungeun had millions of ancient scrolls and stories saved up in their library. Yerim had only read several of them, but the one that she spoke of now sounded too unfamiliar for her to recall. “Jinsoul-unnie always preferred Latin…”

At that, a small smile graced Jungeun’s face. Her hand drifted aimlessly in the water, to which Yerim slowly slipped her fingers into. “The Greeks did it better,” and for an instance, it almost felt like when they would sit together in the main dining room, sunlight cascading from the tall, tall windows and setting them aflame. “Once I start the journey, I want you to find the story - Orpheus and Eurydice – and I want you to read it.”

Yerim’s frown deepened further, her grip on her older sister’s hand tightening. “What journey?”

“You’ll understand what you have to do once you read it.” Jungeun dazedly met her gaze, almost startling her when Yerim saw the black hues. “You’ll know.”

Reluctance rendered her to her place. Paralyzed by the fear beginning to creep into her muscles, Yerim just stared into Jungeun’s strangely peaceful eyes. She hadn’t seen the woman be this serene in her entire life – not even throughout the years they had spent together side by side. If it had been any other time, perhaps she would have been happy for Jungeun, but now was the worst time she could be doing this.

“I will do better than Orpheus.” Jungeun’s wet fingers grazed at Yerim’s chin before gently applying more pressure. “I promise, I will do better.”

It felt like a goodbye.

When the water began to glow a dull red, Yerim pushed herself from the bottom of the tiles. Slowly, she drifted towards the edge of the steps, crawling out with the liquid clinging to her clothes.

For a moment, she let herself be bewitched by the sluggish dance of the blue and red, the luminosity lighting her shining face in various shades and colours. It was uncanny yet alluring. Over time, its power increased, the once red walls now darkened with the unforeseen radiance of the bath.

But when she saw Jinsoul’s eyes snap open in that familiar neon blue, Yerim felt her heart come to a stop in her chest.

And then she was running as fast as she could to their library.

The temperature difference was almost shocking enough to render her muscles immobile. Her wet socks would have made her slip against the smooth surface of the tiles in the hallways if she hadn’t been going at a supernatural speed, darting through the maze of large, pointless rooms in search for her desired destination. She could feel her blood roar in her veins, the adrenaline triggering her teeth to unhinge without her permission. Could smell the sooty, warm air giving way under her movement.

If her movement had startled any other sanguisuge in the estate, she didn’t have enough time to care.

Stands of books stared back at her from across the room.

There was a book that she had to find.

-

“That method didn’t work last time, right? But the transformation lasted around thirty seconds so I wouldn’t say it was a complete failure… I was doing some thinking that maybe we should revisit some of your old experiments – those that had the longest effects – and maybe narrow down the possible routes that we could take instead of going about it randomly.”

“Yeah, I think that would be good,” Haseul pushed herself from her desk, sliding across the room to the desk where her computer was sat. “Having a structure would help this time around.”

Hyunjin tapped her pencil against the stack of papers in her hands, her legs carrying her around the room as she thought to herself.

The young sanguisuge was no longer torturing her body in the gym and had instead agreed to help her out in the lab – for which Haseul was eternally grateful, both because she desperately needed the help in her research and because she was worried about her mental health. Perhaps having a project for Hyunjin to delve herself into and a goal to strive towards would help her cope through her complicated emotions in a way that was healthier than punishing herself. That and it was nice to be working alongside someone who could more or less keep up with her in terms of knowledge. (Vivi tried her best, but there was only so much as general knowledge could carry her.)

“But just to warn you, I have like, a thousand trialled and tested experiments,” Haseul rubbed at the bridge of her nose, her fingers holding her glasses up to relieve the pressure that had formed there. “We’re going to have to go through them all almost manually since they’re mostly written on notebooks and papers.”

Hyunjin let out a huff through her nose, her way of laughing nowadays. “It’s not like we don’t have a lifetime to figure this out.”

Haseul let out her own short laugh of acknowledgement, becoming more invested in the revival of the old project that she had been striving so hard towards before everything had happened.

Reading over the familiar files one more was like becoming re-acquaintanced with an old friend. She had spent so many years working on this one thing that she knew the data almost like the back of her hand. Had written millions of conclusions so many times that she could recite them in her sleep (and had done so before, as Yeojin had so kindly pointed out in front of Vivi – of all people).

She remembered Vivi’s excitement when she had first told her about it. In fact, it had been the only thing to stop the sanguisuge from making use of her as she had originally intended: a one-time snack before she got on her way to her next stop. It had only been the beginning of an idea spurred by a desperate mind not wanting to have blood drained from her neck. By an admittedly beautiful woman. But seeing the sanguisuge become so alive and animated despite having previously been wrapped in tension had been more motivation for her to carry through with her word. And when she started experimenting with something that was actually practical and had an effect which she could see had an instant reward, it suddenly became better than going to uni.

Being partners with Vivi, however, came with the job of getting to know her very intimidating best friend with the impressionable blonde hair and threatening sharp gaze.

Haseul’s first impression of Jinsoul had been one of slight jealousy (because she and Vivi acted like they shared all the secrets in the world – which Haseul came to realize that they did) and infatuation.

As much as she wanted to ignore for her own pride, she had to acknowledge the blonde’s other-worldly beauty. Especially in close proximity. It was no wonder that the barely eighteen-year-old version of herself had developed a small crush on the sanguisuge. When there was an entity that beautiful in front of her, what else was supposed to happen?

She later learnt that this reaction was a product of the hormones that sanguisuge naturally released through their scent in order to entice prey. It had served as a small comfort whenever her arguments with Jinsoul got too heated and all she wanted to do was shoot a silver arrow through her. It was the hormones being released from the angry sanguisuge that made their disputes all that more intense. And they argued far more often than Vivi was happy with, but Haseul couldn’t help but return the comments whenever Jinsoul would jab particularly hard at sensitive topics.

When Jinsoul had learnt of the project of trying to turn sanguisuge back into humans, her reaction had been cold.

She had left without a word, slamming the door shut behind her.

However, when she came back several days later after Haseul had made some progress with regenerating the cells in Vivi’s blood, the blonde had begun to open up to the idea of Haseul’s work.

For over a year, Jinsoul quieted down with her protests on Haseul’s ‘unorthodox meddling’ and even warmed up to the thought of bringing her own enquiries as to how sanguisuges’ bodies worked and why they did what they did.

It was remembering the pleasant times when Jinsoul had been so open to helping her with her project – had even willingly joked around and shared some stories with her – that Haseul felt like something big had been ripped from her life. Like a hole had been carved out from her chest and there was nothing that could fill it back up again. Because even though she and Jinsoul had their different views, she still respected her as a person.

“Ah, I remember this.” Hyunjin pushed herself up from where she had been crouched amongst boxes and boxes of old notes. In her hand, she held a slightly crumpled piece of paper.

Curious, Haseul spun on her chair and beckoned her over. “What is it?”

Not even within a second, Hyunjin had moved to where she was and was slowly lowering the piece of paper so that the both could read it at together. In her own handwriting read: ‘Id. 119 – Pregnancy (?)’.

Haseul was brought back to the time Hyunjin had been in the basement of their old home (having moved out after Vivi had persuaded that it was safer if they were all concentrated in the same place). At the time the girl hadn’t been aware of Jinsoul’s past, and Haseul wasn’t about to put further strain on her precarious relationship with the blonde because she couldn’t keep a secret for her. So she had hoped that Hyunjin had forgotten about the paper and focussed instead on their larger project.

Now, however, Hyunjin seemed very aware of why it was that Haseul was studying whether sanguisuges could have offspring.

“You were doing this for Jinsoul-unnie, weren’t you?” Hyunjin’s voice was soft. From time to time, the girl would allow herself to feel something more than just muted emotions, though it all came through as melancholy and hurt. Haseul tentatively reached out to hold her wrist. “She was the one who suggested you to research it because she had produced an offspring- a daughter.”

Haseul trapped her lower lip between her teeth, the pad of her thumb tracing her notes as she was swamped with memories.

Jinsoul coming to her in a spur of the moment in the middle of the night, literally knocking on her window to rouse her from her sleep to say what she had been holding to herself for so long. Haseul had allowed her to step into the safety of her bedroom despite it being two in the morning. She had listened to Jinsoul’s story about her youth and the family she had always wanted to have. The baby girl she wished could be in her arms.

She remembered being moved by the story. So much that she had thrown her arms around the blonde without even thinking about it (she had still been under the spell of sleep at the time) and had hugged her hard.

Because if Haseul had felt the pain from just listening to the story, she couldn’t imagine how Jinsoul must have felt having to have lived through it all.

“Chanwoo thought that I was their daughter.” Hyunjin’s voice was distant. In a faraway land where Haseul’s heavy gaze would not reach her. “He looked at me like I was his daughter and said that I looked like Jinsoul-unnie when she was younger. And that it made so much sense why Jinsoul protected me so much.”

Haseul felt a small, wistful smile cross her face. “I thought that had something to do with it.” Their eyes scanned the page, though they weren’t reading its contents with the same focus they had been moments ago. “When I first met you, I thought that you looked a lot like Choerry but I didn’t want to say anything. You know how Jinsoul would have reacted if she had heard anything like that coming from me…”

Moving to put the paper away, Hyunjin rubbed a hand across her face. Her shoulders were coiled and wound up tightly. Haseul hadn’t seen the girl so stressed over something, as if she were battling with her inner thoughts more often than what she had originally given her credit for.

“Do you want to talk?” Haseul carefully asked, prepared to back off immediately in case Hyunjin blew up on her again.

Breathing in and out deeply, Hyunjin simply shook her head in denial and instead placed the sheet of paper on top of one of the stacks forming a mountain on the table. Her figure looked slightly unstable, but Haseul had seen this girl on the cusp of death before. She knew that if anything, Hyunjin would be the one to be able to come out of this situation still kicking and screaming. It didn’t mean that she had to do it by herself, but Haseul already knew that. Being a silent support for the girl would be enough for her, even if Haseul struggled to keep herself from pouncing on her in her struggle to help.

“Alright, how about instead we take a small break and come back to filing later.” Haseul pushed herself up from the chair, feeling her body groaning in protest. They had been at it for a couple of hours now, the sun beginning to set and cast a fiery orange light in the room.

Relieved, Hyunjin tried a tentative smile in Haseul’s direction. “Sure, but only if you tell me more about how you and Vivi-unnie met.”

Haseul sputtered, her mind immediately reeling at the mention of Vivi’s name. “Why would you want to know that?”

“How could I not want to know?” Hyunjin’s smile was still strained, though Haseul was grateful to find that the girl was now moving more freely in her own body. Even though she was teasing her as a result. “You and Unnie are the only reference that I have for a stable relationship.”

Her own small smirk formed on her face, and Haseul was bumping their shoulders together amicably. “Needing a reference for a certain girl?”

“Actually, yes.”

Haseul almost let herself be surprised at the straightforward response. She almost thought how she respected Hyunjin for being so proud of her feelings before she looked up at her and saw the blush tinting her cheeks. And then she realised that Hyunjin was just as shy as she was when it came to this kind of thing and she was laughing. She easily caught her footing when the younger girl shoved at her shoulder, looking at her through her smiling eyes.

“Alright, but only cause you have no game, Kim Hyunjin.” Haseul teased, dodging at the lazy punch thrown her way.

“You can’t talk about game when you literally malfunction every time Vivi does anything.”

“Ya! Do you wanna hear the story or not?”

-

The room smelt like chemicals. It was stale and suffocating and she had never felt more uncomfortable in her life. Her fingers tugged repeatedly at the loose strands of hair, hoping to bring her attention to anything that wasn’t the nauseating scent.

Having previously been acquainted with such environment, it wasn’t like she was desperate to get out of there. But it wasn’t anything like the time she had had that accident and had to stay for a month until her condition wasn’t as unhinged. Last time, it had been her and the ‘get well soon’ cards lining her bedside table, along with the bright flowers from her classmates and friends. There was the bright lights of the room that allowed her to see the text of ads on the walls.

Perhaps it was because of the other person in the room.

Her eyes landed on the unconscious figure completely still on the hospital bed. She would have thought them dead if it weren’t for the life support machine beside them singing a constant tune.

Or perhaps it was for the person yet to come into the room.

Anxiety flooded her veins once more.

Reflexively, her hand flew to her mouth and she began biting at her nails.

She would think that the supposed relationship that tied her to the stranger on the bed would provide some kind of comfort. That the idea of finally getting to meet the other side of the family – her real family – would at least excite her in some way. But the more she remembered the look on her father’s face when he had told her what she had to do and say, the more she felt like this stranger was her damnation.

Nervously, she looked around the dark hospital room.

No one had shown up in a while. She had way better things to be doing – she could leave whenever she wanted to.

But something kept her rooted to the seat beside the hospital door.

Was it curiosity of who the visitor was? Maybe she didn’t want to let this whole waiting game go to waste when she had already waited as long as she had. Or maybe it was the thought of getting back into her father’s car and getting reprimanded for not doing as he had asked.

Not that she hadn’t grown used to it after so many times.

What did it matter what that old man said?

Just as she was about to push herself from the chair, the door to the hospital room opened.

Her heart stopped beating in her chest. Her breathing caught in her throat. Her widened eyes stared in shock at the shadow that formed in the light streaming from the hallway.

A girl walked in.

About her age, with dark brown hair that was beautifully tied up with care and a long, oversized flannel. Her converse feet scuffed the spotless hospital floor, as if even moving her body in the direction of the bed was an effort in itself. In her hands she held clasped something that look like a book, though it was small because the girl could hold it with one hand. Her demeanour was poised, as if she were meeting someone she wanted to impress even though there was no one else watching her.

That she knew of.

The girl sat on the chair beside the hospital bed, gently placing her hands in her lap. Blankly, she stared at the woman on the bed.

Clearing her throat, she began to speak. “Hello, mother.” Her voice was startlingly deep, contrasting to the image that had formed originally. “Haseul-unnie told me that you could hear everything I said even though you’re asleep. She said that most patients who are under a coma can still hear when their families speak to them, so I’m guessing that you are listening right now.”

From her place beside the door, the short-haired girl watched the scene in front of her in fascination.

The girl took a deep breath, her hand hesitantly reaching for the limp one on the bed. It seemed like she wasn’t too comfortable with the physical contact. “I wanted to ask you what made you think that I was at all capable of assuming your position. What made you decide that I was at all a good choice to be part of something so… big, when I haven’t even graduated high school yet.” As she spoke on, her voice began to fill with indignation. “I can’t be part of the government when they tried to kill the people that I love. How could you even ask me to do that?”

_Ah, so this what it was all about. ___

__Running a hand through her hair, she stood from her chair beside the door and closed her eyes briefly._ _

__It was never about her or the connection shared with these two other people in the room._ _

__Putting on the best version of her persona, Sooyoung stepped towards where the girl was sat beside her mother._ _

__The sudden sound seemed to alert her, because the girl was spinning around in her place and pushing the chair backwards at a dangerous speed. The momentum of the object was almost enough for it to fly directly into her, had Sooyoung not impulsively moved out of the way with ease. Inwardly, Sooyoung was more than surprised at the girl’s ‘fight or flight’ instincts. But outwardly, she merely gave the girl an easy smile._ _

__“Who are you?” The girl bit, the words flying through her pretty plump lips defensively. There was a venom there that slightly threw Sooyoung off balance. “What are you doing in my mom’s room?”_ _

__Stepping forward again, Sooyoung kindly reached out her hand, though didn’t stop the mild amusement from shining in her eyes. “My name is Ha Sooyoung.” When the girl didn’t move to reciprocate her peace offering, she swiftly took her hand back and confidently tilted her chin backwards. “What about you? Pretty rude to ask someone for their name without introducing yourself first?”_ _

__Backing away from her as if she were precautious of an attack, the girl squinted her eyes at her. “And who are you to be telling me such things?”_ _

__Feeling slightly annoyed at the hostility, Sooyoung let the fake smile fall from her face. With hardened eyes, she looked between the girl she had suspected was the one her father had told her about and the woman lying on the bed. She supposed she could see their resemblance to her._ _

__“Well, Jeon Heejin…”_ _

__From the way the girl’s body became rigid, Sooyoung assumed that her father had provided her with accurate information._ _

___That bastard hid this from me for so long. ____ _

____“According to DNA tests,” Sooyoung grinned until her eyes formed taunting crescents, revelling in the blank expression on said Heejin’s face, “your big sister.”_ _ _ _

____Heejin stumbled further back._ _ _ _

____“And you shouldn’t be speaking to your ‘unnie’ like that.”_ _ _ _

_____What a way to meet your long-lost sibling, huh Dad? ____ _ _ _


End file.
